46 Days Later
by aLoggedInReader
Summary: After the events of "Attack of the 46 inch Winchester" the Winchesters are grown ups again, but still have an Apocalypse on their hands. Gabriel's decision to join Team Free Will might just be the miracle they need to live through this. Rated M for future chapters. Sabriel
1. Prologue

**Author's note: **Welcome back to the second part of the "46" series that started with "attack of the 46 inch Winchester". The first story will be referenced a couple of times and there is a character in this story that probably won't make much sense to anyone who hasn't read the other story. As before, it's my plan to post a new chapter every fourth day.

This story will loosely follow the plot of the second part of season 5. It's also going into the Sabriel direction and that's where the M-rating of the story will eventually come in. If you know some of my other Sabriel stories, you'll already know that I always take my time building up the relationship before anything happens. If you came here for the promise of porn and nothing but the porn, this is probably not the story for you.

Special thanks to Treeni for beta-reading!**  
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**Prologue**

Chuck Shurley had learned what his purpose in life was two years earlier. Apparently, Chuck had never been meant to be the author of a, not really successful and discontinued series of books, he was a prophet of the Lord. Finding out that everything he had written about had actually happened to all too real people had been a shock, even though it explained a lot about how Chuck's characters had never felt quite like his own. The writer knew that you had to give your characters a bit of a life of their own to be able to write about them, so they were more than cardboard cutouts, but they had always been too independent from any kind of plot Chuck's imagination could have come up with. He could have hardly ever imagined Sam's bout with Ruby on his own, he couldn't even put it in the books. Of course, there was also the fact that basically everything he had ever written had come to him in a dream. Before Chuck had met the Winchesters for the first time, he had assumed that he was just going crazy. Strangely enough, finding out the truth hadn't been that much better than the insanity option.

Knowing what was going on had undeniably changed Chuck's life, but it had done nothing to make the side-effects of having all those visions any more bearable. That was what aspirin and alcohol were for. That Chuck's self-medication regularly made him pass out somewhere around the house in the middle of the day, was something the writer could live with.

Gabriel found the prophet surrounded by papers and mostly empty bottles. The fact that Chuck was snoring softly, while lying on his couch in a striped bathrobe, a white shirt and boxer shorts with hearts on them, was highly amusing to the archangel.

Gabriel's inner trickster just couldn't let an opportunity like this pass, of course. The archangel pulled a can of whipped cream out of thin air and coated the prophet's palm with a thick layer, all the while being careful not to wake the man. After Gabriel was content with the amount of whipped cream on Chuck's hand, he made the spray can disappear and held a long feather instead. The archangel grinned and started to tickle the prophet's nose.

Chuck scrunched up his nose a couple of times, frowning deeply in his sleep, before he finally brought up his hand to scratch the itching spot. He awoke with a start, as soon as the whipped cream hit his face.

"Morning, Prophet Shurley," Gabriel greeted the human in a chipper tone. The archangel offered a package of wet wipes he had snapped into existence to the prophet with an innocent smile, before he went on talking, "I trust you know who I am."

Chuck was still busy cleaning his face, but he took the time to nod. Of course, the prophet knew exactly who Gabriel was and everything about the archangel's relationship to the Winchesters over the years.

"Good," Gabriel nodded to himself contently. "How threatened do you feel right now?"

Chuck blinked a couple of times. He couldn't help feeling a little threatened now that the archangel had brought the topic up. It hardly ever meant anything good, if somebody asked you how scared you were. Then again, Gabriel was on the right side from what Chuck had seen. "I… uh… not too much?"

"Perfect," the archangel commented with a grin, "We don't want Raphael to pop in, do we?"

Gabriel really didn't want his older brother to crash the little friendly meeting the archangel had hoped to have with the prophet. Sooner or later, Gabriel would have to face his brothers, but he wasn't ready for that kind of confrontation yet.

"I… I guess not," Chuck stammered. The prophet remembered the last time Raphael had shown up in his house, all too well. He really could do without ever having any molars stuck in his hair ever again! Not to mention watching people explode in front of his eyes.

"Cooperative little guy, I already like you," Gabriel stated with a grin, wrapping his arm around Chuck's shoulders amicably. It couldn't be said that all prophets in history had been nice or even decent people, but Chuck seemed to be one of the good ones.

"Chuck Shurley, I have come to take back what was supposed to be mine, anyway," the archangel declared, before Chuck could get a word in edgewise. Not that the human would have anything to say that was even remotely as important as what Gabriel was getting at.

"I… I don't…" the prophet frowned deeply, as he was trying to make sense of what the archangel had just said.

"Jeez, let a guy explain, will you?" Gabriel clicked his tongue disapprovingly. Of course, Chuck had no idea what the archangel had been talking about, that was the point of being cryptical! The prophet would have gotten his explanation in good time anyway. "I guess you've seen a lot of me over the past few weeks."

"Kind of… you… uh… showed up a couple of times," Chuck replied truthfully. In fact, the writer had seen a lot of the archangel during the time when he had been babysitting the de-aged Winchesters and wouldn't Supernatural's small fan base, have loved that story? Gabriel had also made appearances in the prophet's visions afterward, indicating that whatever he was doing was going to influence the Winchesters' story later on. Chuck thought he understood why the archangel had chosen to pay him a visit. "But I didn't tell anyone! I swear!"

"Don't worry, Chuckles, I know," Gabriel stated with a shrug, pulling two chocolate bars from his jacket and offering one of them to the prophet. The archangel knew that he was putting Chuck under a lot of stress and in Gabriel's experience, chocolate always helped with enduring things like that. "Luckily, my bigger brothers aren't very good with creative thinking, but they'll figure out that knowing what you know would be beneficial for their plans soon enough."

Chuck nearly dropped the chocolate bar after hearing that. Of course, the archangel had made a logical assumption, but the writer had never thought of it like that. In fact, he had – probably foolishly – assumed that all the angels would just leave him alone, because as a prophet he was meant to write down whatever he saw. That Chuck had crossed paths with the Winchesters, more than once before and had ended up in his own books spoke against that theory, though.

"So I have decided that it's about time we got you out of Raphael's hands," Gabriel explained, ignoring that the human was already struggling with what he had heard this far. There would be a time for caring about Chuck's feelings and giving him the time to get used to things later, but this wasn't that time. They had to move this along.

"Uh…" the writer replied as eloquently as he could bring himself to be that very moment.

"Glad to hear you agree with me," Gabriel spoke, patting the prophet's shoulder. Technically, Chuck hadn't agreed to anything, but he hadn't disagreed either and the archangel was willing to count that as a win for the team. "No need to worry, I was supposed to watch over the prophets before I became unavailable, anyway. I'm just staking a claim that's stronger than Raphael's. You'll probably not even feel a thing."

Gabriel had been their father's messenger and the prophets were chosen people who wrote down whatever stories God decided had to be preserved for the sake of the humans. It hadn't come as a surprise to the archangel when his father had asked him to watch over the prophets. The duty had only been passed on to Raphael after Gabriel had run away.

"Probably?" Chuck asked, his voice taking on a noticeably higher tone. Hearing that something 'probably wouldn't hurt' wasn't really reassuring. In fact, it sounded an awful lot like it was going to hurt terribly, but the archangel didn't want him to freak out beforehand. Too bad that Chuck was already freaked out.

"Unfortunately, Raphael will feel it when I cut that connection," Gabriel went on speaking, ignoring what the prophet had just said. They could deal with the human's freak out later. "So we'll have to relocate you. Pronto."

It was quite likely that Raphael would come swooping in as soon as Gabriel took the prophet away from him, so they'd better make all the necessary preparations before that happened. The archangel was already mentally cataloguing all the things around the house Chuck was going to need to take with him.

"No worries, I have a wonderful place in mind, you'll love it," Gabriel promised, "And I'll make sure that all your stuff gets there too."

The archangel had multiple hiding places all over the world, but he had chosen to leave Chuck in the US for convenience reasons. Besides, with the protections Gabriel always kept up in all his hideouts, it didn't make much of a difference where the prophet was going to be hidden.

"What… what about Becky?" Chuck hurried to ask while he still had the chance. The writer had to admit that he had only thought of Becky that moment, but he thought that it was understandable that his mind had been preoccupied given the nature of the conversation.

"Girlfriend, I'm guessing?" Gabriel asked with a smirk.

"We… uh… we've been dating…"Chuck explained. The way the writer blushed a little, reminded Gabriel of eight year old Sam. God, the archangel really missed the kids, but if everything went as planned he would at least get back into contact with the Winchesters again soon.

"You gotta ask yourself, Chuckles, do you want to drag her into this with you?" Gabriel shrugged casually. The archangel would be okay with taking Chuck's girlfriend along, if the prophet insisted on it. Chuck had to make an informed decision he could stand behind later on, though. "I promise, the place I'm taking you to, is as safe as it can be, but you'll still have to cut ties with everyone you know, at least for as long as the Apocalypse lasts. You'll be on house arrest for a while too, just to make sure."

In the end, it wasn't that hard for Chuck to make a decision. Becky wasn't the kind of person to go into hiding, burning all bridges behind her. The writer couldn't imagine that she would be happy being stuck in a house with him 24/7 and to be quite honest, Chuck wasn't all that sure if he would be happy having her around all day long every day, either.

The prophet took his cell phone, trying to decide how to go about this. It might have been a coward's decision, but in the end he chose to write a text message to Becky. Chuck knew that he couldn't tell her the truth, but he felt that he couldn't just disappear without a word either.

"I'm ready," the writer told the archangel a minute later, noticing that a lot of his personal things had already disappeared from the living room. Gabriel must have started to work on Chuck's relocation while he had tried to decide what message to send to Becky. The prophet just hoped that his girlfriend wasn't going to take his 'I'm sorry, but I've got to leave' all too hard.

Gabriel nodded, satisfied. He had gotten all of Chuck's possessions – not including furniture – to the prophet's new home. All that was left to do was to sever the bond between Raphael and the prophet.

Chuck shut his eyes, his face scrunching up as he tried to prepare himself for the possibility that this would probably hurt like a bitch. In the end, the writer only felt Gabriel's hands on the sides of his head. It took a few moments before Chuck dared to open his eyes again. He was a little scared that the archangel hadn't even started yet and he didn't want to get his hopes up.

When the prophet looked around him, he realized that he wasn't standing in his living room anymore. Not a single room in Chuck's house had been this tidy in ages, not to mention the friendly colors the walls had been painted. A short look out of the window revealed that it was sunny – sunnier than Chuck preferred, but that was what blinds were for – and that they were in a street with very well kept single family homes.

Gabriel watched the prophet take in his new surroundings. It didn't look like the man was immediately appalled by anything he had seen, which to the archangel counted as another win. "Welcome to Celebration, Florida."


	2. Chapter 1

**Author's note:** Thanks so much to Larkafree, Maknatuna, Maddy Love Castiel, RachelPhobia, CherylB1964, FireChildSlytherin5, kb18142, Pizzapig, PercyJfan1802, Improbabile, eiahlaie, Dark Knight Warrior, random yet loveable, Silver-Streaked Wings, Fallen's child, Riceball-1989, thornybrose, Chichi-10018, XxZessxX, Sophia Griffin, Treeni and baileylovesyou0400 for last chapter's reviews!**  
**

Special thanks to Treeni for beta-reading!

My friend's cat mauled my right hand to the point where I can hardly bend my middle finger and typing too much hurts... but fear not, according to the doctor, chances that the hand will fall off are pretty slim. ;-)

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**1**

Like all other angels in existence, Gabriel had been unable to locate the Winchesters by himself, but unlike most angels in existence, the archangel had Castiel's cell phone number and contacted his brother to find out what the hunters were up to.

It was just like the Winchesters to get themselves committed to a mental institution just when Gabriel was ready to join their little team of misfits. Not that the archangel was denying that the guys had issues, but they had chosen an inconvenient time to acknowledge it. Then again, it looked like the two hunters were there for business and not some tender loving care. The institution gave Gabriel the creeps and not in the way that it might have with normal people. Sure, mental hospitals never were nice places to be, but there was something going on here that just reeked of the work of a monster.

The archangel was going to take care of the monster problem later, though. First and foremost, Gabriel wanted to find the Winchesters, Sam Winchester, to be precise. It seemed like a safe guess that the younger brother would be more open to what the archangel had to say and Gabriel had never liked to make things more complicated for himself than they had to be.

"Gabriel!" Sam exclaimed happily when the archangel appeared in his room. The joyful tone combined with the way the younger Winchester's eyes were dilated and unfocused gave away, that the human had been drugged. Gabriel took a mental note to ask what Sam had done to deserve that later on. Before the archangel could say anything, the younger Winchester decided to share an observation he had just made with the class. "You look so small. I remember you being much taller."

"Hey kiddo," Gabriel replied, chuckling. Of course, the archangel had looked much taller from the perspective of an eight year old kid. Sam voicing his thoughts on the topic was amusing, anyway.

The younger Winchester was lying curled up on his side, looking up at the archangel with a goofy smile on his face. When it looked like Sam was trying to get up, Gabriel quickly stood next to the bed to keep the younger Winchester from doing anything that would end with the human flat on his face. The archangel helped the drugged man to get into an upright position, propped against the headboard for stability. To Gabriel's great surprise, Sam used the opportunity to wrap an arm around the archangel's middle to keep him close.

"Larger than life Gabriel," the younger Winchester mumbled, leaning his head against Gabriel's chest with a sigh, "My personal guardian angel."

Sam hadn't told Dean, or anybody else, but after they had been turned back into adults, the younger Winchester had missed the archangel's presence for quite some time. He had missed the easy camaraderie, the smiles, the little touches and the hugs. Sometimes, Sam thought that Dean had actually noticed, but wasn't comfortable bringing the topic up. The younger Winchester hadn't wanted to talk about it, anyway. Those feelings had felt stupid and crazy to Sam, but in that very moment, they somehow didn't. The hunter was vaguely aware of the fact that it had something to do with the drugs he had been given, but they also did a bang up job with making him not care.

"Whatever they gave you, I want some," Gabriel stated, petting Sam's hair a little awkwardly. Cuddling with the eight year old had been one thing, cuddling with the adult was another entirely. Not that the archangel didn't like the contact, it just felt different. What really made it awkward was knowing that as soon as the drugs wore off, Sam was going to push Gabriel away. No doubt about it.

"Are we going to spend a week with you again?" the younger Winchester asked in a hopeful tone, looking up at the archangel, "Can we have a nice Christmas this time?"

Gabriel couldn't help laughing at that. It was such an innocent request and it reminded the archangel a lot of little Sammy. It was good to know that the tiny kid that had gotten along so well with Gabriel was still somewhere inside the giant of a man, even if that part of Sam was probably a part that the younger Winchester wouldn't show normally.

"That what you want, Sambo?" the archangel replied in a soft tone, still petting the taller man's hair.

"I don't like Christmas, but I don't like Halloween either and you made that good," Sam answered, before he scrunched up his face remembering how their Halloween experience ended for them, "Kinda."

The picture of a Christmas tree with tacky decorations and fairy lights was on Gabriel's mind before he could keep it from forming. There weren't many things the archangel could have liked better than to give his boys one more good holiday, but the circumstances had changed dramatically since the last time they had spent time together.

"You're cute when you're drugged off your feet," Gabriel commented once he had managed to drag himself out of his thoughts, "Too bad I need you sober."

The archangel put two fingers against Sam's forehead, chasing every last trace of the drugs the younger Winchester had been given, out of the human's system. Gabriel knew that the younger Winchester was back to his usual self the moment the human let go of the archangel and scrambled to get off from the opposite side of the bed to bring some distance between them.

Sam opened his mouth to speak, but no words came out. Somehow, every time they met Gabriel it ended with the younger Winchester being embarrassed and speechless.

"What did they give you all those happy pills for, anyway?" the archangel asked to end the awkward silence between them. They would have to work out where they stood in relation to each other eventually, but there were other matters to be dealt with first.

"We are hunting a wraith and Dean was sure that he knew who…" Sam started to explain, before his face paled noticeably, "I need to talk to him, apologize."

"Calm down, Sambo, we're going to go find your brother in a minute," Gabriel replied in a soothing tone, automatically reaching out to the taller man before he pulled his hand back again. The archangel hadn't thought that it would be this hard to not fall back into the pattern he had established when it came to comforting a distraught eight year old Sam.

"Not Dean. I need to talk to that doctor. I… I tried to kill him," Sam swallowed hard. Sure, Dean had seen Dr. Fuller's distorted face in the mirror and it would have made sense that the wraith, that had been killing patients of the facility, was somebody who could move around freely whenever he pleased, without anybody batting an eye about it. That didn't make it any better that Sam had attacked the man with the intent to kill him, when it had turned out that Dr. Fuller was an ordinary human being.

"I'm sure it was an honest mistake," Gabriel tried to reassure the younger Winchester. In the business the Winchesters were in, mistakes were bound to happen. It was regrettable, but unavoidable, even for the legendary Winchester brothers hunting team. Apparently, Sam wasn't willing to let the archangel make excuses for him, though.

"How does that make it better?" the younger Winchester shot back. It wouldn't have helped the doctor or his relatives any that it had been an honest mistake that had led to him getting killed. It didn't help the world any that it had been an honest mistake that had started the Apocalypse. Then again, Sam didn't think that he deserved to claim an honest mistake on the end of the world. It had been his fault and he had to own up to it.

"Okay, fine," Gabriel groaned, throwing his arms in the air exasperatedly. There was no comforting somebody who didn't want to be comforted. "You want me to disappear or make myself invisible?"

Sam nodded and waited for the archangel to be gone before he knocked on the door to get someone's attention. The younger Winchester had the strong feeling that he needed to apologize as quickly as possible and not only because he needed to be allowed to leave the room, if he wanted to be any help to Dean. Actually, with Gabriel around Sam wouldn't need anybody's permission to leave the room, but he still wanted to apologize.

What the younger Winchester didn't know was that the archangel had never left the room. Gabriel had given the human two options and Sam hadn't chosen one, so the archangel had made the choice for him. Making himself invisible had been the preferable option to Gabriel, because he could see and hear everything that was going on that way.

The orderly who first noticed Sam's knocking seemed astonished to see the man back on his feet a couple hours earlier than they had anticipated. In the end, the nurse put the fact that the medication had lost its effect so quickly on the sheer size of the patient and the fact that they hadn't had to medicate him before and thus hadn't known how his body was going to react. The nurse went to alert Dr. Fuller as quickly as possible.

"Thank you for talking to me after…" Sam hurried to say when the doctor came into the room, "I am very sorry for what I did. I thought you were… a monster. But I know better now. After what happened, I had a...moment of clarity. I realized...there's no such thing as monsters."

Of course, the younger Winchester had lied, but to be taken seriously with his apology he had to make the doctor believe that he was somewhat sane that moment. Insisting that monsters really did exist, but that Sam understood that Dr. Fuller wasn't one of them wasn't the way to go to accomplish that.

"Well, I'm glad to hear you say that, but, honestly? Monsters are the least of your problems. People can learn to live with delusions, but the anger I saw in you...You hurt those two men, and you were going to kill me. The look in your eyes when you came after me, I...It was like you were barely even human...like a man possessed," the doctor replied, not unkindly, but the words hit Sam like a slap to the face, anyway.

"I am so sorry," the younger Winchester whispered, "I just want… a second chance, please."

Dr. Fuller agreeing to allow Sam to go to the day room was the one thing that kept Gabriel from giving the man an uncomfortable rash on places he couldn't scratch in public. The archangel realized that the man hadn't done anything to deserve his wrath, but Gabriel had the strong impulse to make somebody pay for the helpless and forlorn expression on the younger Winchester's face. Apparently, the instinct to protect the kid hadn't gone away just because he was an overgrown moose of a man again.

"You don't believe that, do you?" Gabriel asked, making himself visible once more. The question was a little redundant, because the look on the younger Winchester's face showed very clearly that he believed every word the doctor had said.

"Were you here this entire time?" Sam sighed, rubbing his forehead to ward off the oncoming migraine. Hearing someone analyze his character like Dr. Fuller had, was bad enough without the archangel being present to hear every single word!

"I asked you if I should disappear or make myself invisible, you let me choose which one," Gabriel shrugged, failing to make the gesture look completely casual. Of course, the archangel realized that he had abused a loophole, but what had Sam expected from a trickster?

"Sam, you know that what he said was a lot of bullshit, right?" Gabriel asked again in a softer tone. That doctor didn't know enough about the Winchester's real lives to make that kind of observation for starters. Besides, the archangel had started to feel a strong urge to protect Sam during the time they had spent together around Halloween and it hadn't just gone away afterward.

"What? The part about me barely being human? About my anger at everyone and everything getting two innocents hurt and nearly getting another killed?" Sam retorted in a surprisingly emotionless tone. It wasn't really a question, anyway. Those things were true as far as the younger Winchester was concerned. That he didn't like those truths about himself, didn't make them any less accurate.

"You had reasons to believe…" Gabriel tried once more, only to be rudely interrupted before he could even finish his statement. The archangel made a mental note about the younger Winchester disliking people trying to defend his actions. Gabriel had a feeling that piece of information was something that'd be very useful to remember in the future.

"Excuses," Sam huffed, crossing his arms in front of his chest.

"You realize that some excuses are valid," the archangel shot back, mimicking the younger Winchester's stance.

"Whatever you say, Trickster," Sam stated, turning toward the door to go to the day room. Of course, the younger Winchester would be under supervision of a bunch of people who thought he was insane, violent and dangerous there, but that seemed better than staying in the room with the archangel that very moment. Besides, they still had a case to work on.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Gabriel asked, raising his eyebrows and walking after the taller man. If Sam wanted to throw something at the archangel, he'd better make sure that Gabriel understood what he was talking about.

The younger Winchester turned around to look directly into the archangel's eyes as he said, "Whoever said Dean was the dysfunctional one, has never seen me with a sharp object in my hands."

Sam turned around and left the room while Gabriel stared after him flabbergasted and feeling thoroughly chastised.


	3. Chapter 2

**Author's note: **Thanks so much to Larkafree, Maknatuna, Maddy Love Castiel, RachelPhobia, Treeni, FireChildSlytherin5, Kirabaros, PercyJfan1802, kb18142, Improbabile, random yet loveable, eiahlaie, Sophia Griffin, Chichi-10018, baileylovesyou0400, Fallen's child, Riceball-1989 and XxZessxX for last chapter's reviews!**  
**

Special thanks to Treeni for beta-reading!

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**2**

"Dean! What's going on here?" Sam exclaimed as soon as he found his older brother huddled up against the wall of the day room. The younger Winchester didn't think that he had seen his brother this openly and obviously scared since their run in with yellow fever, a fact that spoke for itself. Something was definitely fishy.

"I'm going crazy, Sammy," Dean replied, looking at his younger brother for a moment before he quickly looked away again, as if he had seen something unpleasant, "I was having therapy sessions with… nobody. She was only in my head! And now I'm seeing wraiths everywhere!"

Sam frowned deeply. That Dean was having hallucinations explained how it was possible he had mistaken Dr. Fuller for a wraith. There was no explanation for why the older Winchester was seeing things that weren't there in the first place, though. Alright, there was a very obvious explanation, but they had already jumped to conclusions once before. Sam wasn't too eager to repeat the mistake they had made, especially not with the psychiatrist's words were ringing in his ears.

"What the hell is happening?" the younger Winchester asked, turning to Gabriel. The archangel was standing next to Sam casually, looking around the room and unwrapping a piece of candy. Sam couldn't be sure, but he assumed that Gabriel was assessing the situation and looking for their wraith under the façade of mild curiosity he had put up.

"Hell's got nothing to do with it," Gabriel explained, popping the lemon drop into his mouth before he extended his hand toward the older Winchester, "Your wraith must have gotten his fingers on Dean-o."

Dean looked like he was ready to bolt, staring at the archangel's hand as it came ever closer to his head, as if it was a deadly weapon. Sam couldn't help thinking that, in theory, Gabriel's hands actually were deadly weapons. Not that the archangel would have to touch them to kill them or that he'd want to kill them in the first place.

The younger Winchester put a steadying hand on his brother's shoulder, effectively keeping Dean from running away with the gesture, too. As much as the overly cocky and confident attitude his brother often displayed annoyed Sam, he clearly preferred it over the 'deer caught in the headlights, ready to bolt' version of Dean he had in front of him.

"Maybe it got you, too. I didn't pay that much attention to what drugs exactly, I removed from your system," Gabriel told Sam, while he pressed two fingers against Dean's forehead to rid him of the wraith's influence. A part of the archangel had hoped that the younger Winchester would take this new – and this far best – excuse for any kind of violent behavior he might have displayed earlier and run with it, but one look at the taller man's face revealed that he wasn't dreaming of it.

"So you're saying that the wraith got in contact with both of us?" Sam asked with a frown. That new piece of information didn't make it much easier to figure out who the wraith was. There were a few people they both had been in contact with since they had gotten themselves committed.

"Bingo," Gabriel replied, shaking his head slightly when he saw the thoughtful look on Sam's face. Like the Winchesters would really have trouble finding the wraith now that the archangel was with them! Gabriel just had to get one look at the thing to know exactly what it was, no matter how good its human disguise might be. Perks of being an archangel.

"Sam, what's he doing here?" Dean groaned, blinking a few times. The older Winchester felt like he had just woken up from a very realistic nightmare, but Gabriel's presence made him wonder if he really had woken up yet.

"Don't ask me, I don't know," Sam shrugged, throwing a side glance toward the archangel. The younger Winchester realized that he should have asked why the smaller man had shown up in the middle of a hunt, but he had been a little preoccupied.

"I'm helping you muttonheads, that's what I'm doing," Gabriel stated, throwing his hands in the air showily. It was just typical Dean behavior to immediately be suspicious. The older Winchester could use a few lessons in trusting the people who had helped him previously, but the archangel had other priorities than coming up with some pocket universe that could teach Dean exactly that.

"We were doing fine without you," Dean huffed, crossing his arms in front of his chest. Alright, things hadn't looked that great for them for a minute there, but they would have solved their problems and the case soon enough. There was absolutely no need for the archangel to be there!

"Yeah, I could see that," Gabriel commented with a slight smirk. However, this wasn't the time or the place to have a pissing contest with Dean, so the archangel decided to get them back to the other topic at hand. There would be a time to discuss everything else once they were done with this case. "Let's just get rid of that pesky wraith and get back to your home base. There's so much we need to discuss."

Sam looked surprised at that announcement, but not in a bad way. The younger Winchester had sounded so hopeful when he had asked, if the archangel was going to be around for a longer period of time, while Sam was still under the influence of the drugs. The drugs were gone, but the human obviously still liked the thought of having Gabriel with them.

"If you think that we'll…" Dean began to protest. The older Winchester didn't even get to finish his statement about how delusional Gabriel had to be if he thought that they were going to work with him, though.

"You have an Apocalypse at your hands, I have a way to stop it. You sure you don't want to talk to me?" Gabriel asked in a serious tone. The stunned silence that announcement got from both brothers was enough of an answer. "Thought so."

Sam didn't want to get his hopes up, but there was a part of him that simply trusted that Gabriel was going to make things right for them. Dean, of course, looked more suspicious than anything else. The older Winchester didn't believe that things that were too good to be true could be anything other than lies.

"You really have a way for us to… stop all this?" Sam asked quietly, his eyes searching Gabriel's for any trace of deception. The younger Winchester wanted to believe that the archangel was telling the truth, he wanted Gabriel to have the solution for their problem and he wanted them all to work on it together, because that was their best shot at stopping the Apocalypse. At the same time Sam couldn't help thinking that the last time they had had a plan, Ellen and Jo had died for it and it had all been for nothing.

"I'm on your side, Sambo," Gabriel replied just as quietly, touching the human's arm reassuringly. That however, ended abruptly when Dean decided to obnoxiously clear his throat. The archangel knew that he'd have to prove himself to a lot of people, before they would consider him as just another member of the team, but it looked like it wouldn't be that hard to get back into Sam's good graces, at least.

* * *

In the end, the hunt for the wraith was over as quickly as it had begun. The nurse had walked around the corner, Gabriel had caught one look at her and had snapped his fingers to make her go up in flames. Of course, Dean had complained that it had been their hunt and that they were perfectly capable of finishing their own hunts, but even the older Winchester had to admit that only a very small pile of ash being left instead of a whole body, made it much easier to escape without raising all the alarms.

Once they were standing next to the Impala, it became clear that none of them knew where they were going from there. Gabriel had already told the two Winchesters that he wanted to talk to them, but what he was planning wasn't a conversation they could have in passing, standing in a parking lot.

"You want to talk? Fine," Dean decided after a few moments of heavy silence, "We'll be at Bobby's in about ten hours."

Listening to what the archangel had to say was a good idea, even the older Winchester had to admit that. Even though he didn't trust that Gabriel had the solution he had said he had, Dean still acknowledged that they had to give it a chance. It wasn't like they already had a plan to even work with, so anything might turn out to be better than nothing.

"What? I don't get to ride with you?" Gabriel asked in a teasing tone, nodding toward the Impala. Honestly, the archangel had only brought up the possibility of driving to Sioux Falls with the Winchesters, because he knew that it would annoy Dean. The older Winchester was too easy to tease at times.

"You're not getting into my baby again," Dean replied, stony faced. They weren't going to spend hours with the trickster in the backseat, absolutely not! It was bad enough that they'd have to spend time with the little bastard when they arrived at Bobby's!

"You were saying?" the archangel's smug voice came from the backseat of the Impala, just a second after Dean had made his opinion on him being in the car clear. It was admittedly, only about proving to the bullheaded Winchester that there was nothing he could do to keep Gabriel from doing whatever the hell he wanted.

"Dean, can't we just…?" Sam suggested diplomatically, rubbing his forehead. The younger Winchester just wanted to get away from this place and talk about the plans Gabriel had been speaking about. He didn't want to watch his brother and the archangel having a pissing contest, especially since it was quite likely that Gabriel would zap himself out of the car after ten minutes the latest. Apparently, Dean was counting on the archangel's boredom, too. He had different ideas about how it was most likely going to play out, though.

"No! I'm not spending ten hours on the road with him!" Dean interrupted his younger brother in a defiant tone, "I don't want him to get bored and litter my baby with his candy wrappers, I don't want him to prank drivers that pass us by and I don't want him in my car!"

The older Winchester could already see them driving into trees or getting off the road, because of some stupid thing the trickster had done. Dean also didn't fancy the thought of being hunted down by a biker gang, because of Gabriel throwing candy at them! Besides, the older Winchester wanted to speak to his brother just between the two of them before they talked about any plans the archangel might have.

"If you put it like that, Dean-o," Gabriel stated, once more standing outside of the Impala, "Ten hours is awfully long. I'll meet you there then."

The archangel was gone within the blink of an eyes, but Sam couldn't help feeling a little paranoid. The younger Winchester didn't mention the fact that Gabriel might have made himself invisible instead of disappearing to his brother, though. There was no need to bring Dean's mood down further.

"Ten hours, Dean?" Sam said after they had gotten into the car. It didn't really matter, if Gabriel heard about that little detail. For all the younger Winchester knew, the archangel knew everything about how long driving certain distances took, anyway. "The way you drive, we'll be there in eight."

"So? Maybe I just want a little more time without that dick with wings," Dean retorted, pulling out of the parking lot. It was worrying that Sam apparently didn't see things the way his older brother did. The older Winchester feared that they would have to have a probably, unpleasant conversation about Gabriel's involvement in their lives soon.

"Do you think he's really going to help us?" Sam asked a few minutes later. The younger Winchester wasn't sure if Gabriel had been in the car with them at the start of their journey, but he was confident that the archangel wouldn't hang around for more than three Metallica songs. Gabriel seemed to be a ball of energy usually. It was doubful that the archangel could sit still for longer than that.

"Who knows?" Dean answered, shrugging. The older Winchester threw a side glance toward his brother and couldn't say he liked what he saw from his brother. Dean sighed heavily before saying, "Sammy, I know… I know you liked him when we were both younger, but he's still the fucking Trickster."

The older Winchester had the sinking feeling that this wouldn't be the last time he'd have to say something on the topic. Sam might be acting reasonably this far, but it would have to been seen how long that was going to last when they spent more time around Gabriel. Dean hadn't forgotten how much his brother had latched on to the archangel during the time they had spent with the man as kids.

"I know, Dean," Sam replied, not quite meeting his brother's eyes. The archangel's second identity as the trickster was something the younger Winchester doubted he would ever forget. Sam wished he could forget it and just focus on the things Gabriel had done for them – especially, for him. Apparently, that was exactly what Dean was afraid of. Of course, the younger Winchester could see where his brother was coming from after the entire disaster with Ruby.

"Just don't get your hopes up," the older Winchester stated. He didn't give his younger brother the chance to reply before he reached for the radio to turn the volume up. They had a couple more hours before they had to deal with the trickster again and Dean fully intended to enjoy them.


	4. Chapter 3

**Author's note:** Thanks so much to Larkafree, Maknatuna, Maddy Love Castiel, RachelPhobia, CherylB1964, FireChildSlytherin5, PercyJfan1802, kb18142, random yet loveable, Pizzapig, Fallen's child, eiahlaie, XxZessxX, baileylovesyou0400, Akira of the Twilight, Chichi-10018, Improbabile and Nicolene B for last chapter's reviews!

Special thanks to Treeni for beta-reading!

* * *

**3**

Gabriel had actually considered waiting for the Winchesters to arrive before he entered Bobby Singer's house. The archangel had only met the older hunter once, but he was sure he hadn't left the best impression back then. First impressions weren't exactly his thing, not that Bobby could do anything to seriously hurt Gabriel, even if he tried, but it would be best to make sure that they got a good, fresh start. The archangel couldn't stop from thinking that it would help if Sam was present. Dean probably wouldn't have anything nice to say about Gabriel, but he had somesmall hopes that the younger brother would speak in his favor.

In the end, the archangel didn't have the patience to wait for the Winchesters to arrive. It didn't help that Gabriel knew that Tarot was staying with Bobby Singer and was curious – and a little anxious as well – to see how his little brother was doing after everything.

To his credit, Bobby barely flinched when the trickster suddenly appeared in front of his desk. The sandy-haired angel who had helped the hunter translate an ancient text didn't fare quite so well. Tarot jumped, his first instinct to run or hide, but there was a demi-god threatening Bobby's safety. The angel was visibly shaking, but he stood his ground and even took a protective stance.

Gabriel smiled at that display of protectiveness. It took a few moments before it hit the archangel that he looked like the trickster to his younger brother. The little one was braver than Gabriel had given him credit for. However, the moment Gabriel dropped the disguise and let his angelic self shine in its full glory, was the moment when Tarot shrieked, terrified and hid behind Bobby's wheelchair. Apparently, the archangel had misjudged what his little brother really was afraid of. It hurt a little to be one of the things that made his own brother cower in fear. It also made Gabriel wish Zachariah was still alive so that he could kill him all over again.

"Stay where you are! You're scaring the boy," Bobby demanded in a gruff tone, as soon as the archangel showed signs he was about to take a step toward them. The hunter had grown fond of his angelic roommate over the weeks. The seraph was quiet, didn't stand in the way and always tried to make himself useful. Of course, Tarot was also obsessed with making all of Bobby's clocks show the exact same time, stared into space quite frequently and jumped at just about any loud noise, but the hunter couldn't help liking him anyway.

"That 'boy' was created ages before your earliest ancestors were a thought in my father's head," Gabriel pointed out casually, taking a handful of M&Ms out of his pocket. The archangel had a massive sweet tooth, there was no use denying it, but he had also discovered early on that stuffing his face with candy was a way to appear more harmless and less aggressive. Not that it helped much when Tarot had closed his eyes and was hugging himself while cowering behind the hunter.

"You keep your distance and don't upset him any more or we'll find out how an archangel likes a shotgun blast to the face," Bobby retorted. The hunter reached behind his chair to put a calming hand on the shaking angel's shoulder. Sometimes the gesture worked like a spell, but Bobby had the nagging feeling that Tarot wasn't going to calm down that easily when the archangel was still standing there.

"I'm so scared right now, wheels," Gabriel replied, clicking his tongue, "Speaking of which, you should come over here for a moment."

Finding out that Castiel was unable to heal people since he had been cut off from heaven and thus couldn't give Bobby the use of his legs back, had hurt badly. Hearing that Tarot had been cut off from heaven when he had went missing and thus couldn't heal anybody either had been somewhat expected, but had still hurt. The thought hadn't occurred to Bobby at first, but having the archangel around was the best shot at getting out of that damn chair as he was going to get. The hunter tried not to get his hopes up when he maneuvered the wheelchair around his desk, anyway.

Gabriel studied the last two of his M&Ms for a moment, popping them into his mouth when Bobby came to a halt in front of him. The archangel had considered waiting on healing the hunter until the Winchesters had arrived, so the two could see with their own eyes that he was willing to do things for them and their allies. However, Gabriel had changed his mind. The archangel didn't want to put up a show, he wanted everyone to know that he was genuine.

The wheelchair bound hunter looked a little suspicious when Gabriel touched his shoulder. It was just a moment later that a look of utter disbelief and then pure joy crossed Bobby's face. The hunter couldn't get out of his wheelchair quickly enough for his taste.

"I'll be damned," Bobby mumbled in wonder, standing in front of the archangel. The hunter felt like his knees might give up on him any moment, but it had nothing to do with any physical injuries.

"Damnation isn't a service I offer, old man," Gabriel stated with a grin, "Consider it payment for taking care of my brother."

Tarot was peeking over Bobby's desk every now and then to see what was happening, but was keeping his distance. Still, considering the state the seraph had been in when Gabriel had last seen him, his little brother was clearly doing better.

"You took care of my boys," Bobby replied. Judging by his tone, the hunter wasn't over his amazement at being able to stand on his own two feet again yet. Still, it had to be said that both Sam and Dean had been in good hands when the archangel had taken care of their de-aged selves. Bobby appreciated that more than he could put into words he was comfortable with using around the trickster. It looked like Gabriel understood what he was trying to say, anyway.

"You don't know half of it yet."

* * *

Surprise didn't even begin to cover what both Winchesters felt when Bobby opened the door for them. The brothers had always hated seeing their father figure sitting in the wheelchair, especially with how obvious it was how much Bobby was suffering. It was easy to see that the older hunter was much more content. In fact, he looked as close to joyful as Bobby Singer was ever going to get.

"I have to admit, this wasn't what I expected when the trickster showed up in my study," the older hunter explained with a shrug, even though he suspected that the boys already knew how he had gotten the use of his legs back.

Even Dean had to admit that there was at least one upside to having Gabriel around. The older Winchester still wasn't going to let his guard down around the archangel any time soon, but there was no use denying that the trickster had done them all a favor by healing Bobby. Actually, Dean could admit that Gabriel had done them a pretty big favor by keeping them out of harm's way for a week when they been turned back into their much younger selves and standing up for them when trouble had inevitably come looking for them, but the older Winchester wasn't going to say it out loud any time soon. The one thing Dean really didn't like about all this was that Sam had been very close to Gabriel when he had been an eight year old kid for the second time. The older Winchester couldn't help fearing that Sam would be severely disappointed by someone he trusted once more and that was the best case scenario. In the worst case they had someone even shoddier than Ruby on their hands and his younger brother was already falling for it.

Luckily, Dean's attention was claimed by an ongoing conversation Gabriel and Castiel were currently engaged in as soon as they got into Bobby's study. Apparently, the two angels had been talking for a while already and it didn't sound like they were making idle small talk. That at least kept the older Winchester from painting any more dark pictures of things the future might have in store for them. Not that the talk the two angels were having was all that lighthearted from the sounds of it.

"… was damaged even before he has been cut off from heaven," Castiel said matter-of-factly. The seraph realized that he had chosen the wrong thing to say, as soon as he saw Gabriel's reaction to his words. Castiel couldn't decide if appalled or annoyed was the right word to describe the archangel's expression. It probably was a mixture of both.

"How does that make anything better?" Gabriel groaned, shooting the quiet seraph sitting in the corner of the room a look. To his shame, the archangel had taken a while to figure out what exactly had bothered him a little since he had first laid eyes on Tarot. When Gabriel had finally seen the connection between the seraph and the old hunter for what it was, he had called Castiel and demanded his immediate presence. To tell the truth, the archangel would have told his dark-haired brother to come by for the talk he was going to have with the Winchesters, anyway. The new revelations had just sped things up a little.

"You seemed concerned about Tarot being at the beck and call of a human," Castiel stated, trying to share his entire thought process with his brother, so he might get a chance to figure out where exactly he had gone wrong. "I am telling you that this is by no means putting too much power in the hands of Bobby Singer. Our brother might very well be the one seraph in existence whose power levels are lower than mine currently are."

It was only then that the seraph noticed the Winchesters had arrived and had heard every word he had said. Castiel's eyes met Dean's for a moment before the seraph quickly looked away. He hadn't meant for his charges – especially Dean – to know how far he had fallen already. The blue-eyed angel didn't want to see the look on the older Winchester's face when he realized how useless the seraph was becoming. If he hadn't turned his eyes away, Castiel would have seen the flash of concern that crossed Dean's face before the hunter schooled his features to look neutral again.

"Cassy, sometimes you're awfully dense," Gabriel sighed, acknowledging their audience with a curt nod, "Old Grumpy is about as trustworthy as they come. What I am concerned about is enslaving one of our brothers, even if you're giving him a good master."

Bobby huffed out a breath and crossed his arms in front of his chest. The older hunter wouldn't have said that the trickster was particularly trustworthy, but it was interesting to know that Gabriel thought him to be so.

"I agreed," Tarot mumbled, to the surprise of everyone. The seraph had been extremely tight-lipped the entire time he had been around Bobby's, only speaking when it couldn't be avoided and sometimes when he had been asked a direct question. It was obvious that talking in the presence of his angelic brothers made Tarot extremely nervous, but he managed to stutter, "T-the p-plan… I a-agreed to it."

"No offense bro, but I doubt you were in any condition to give consent to anything," Gabriel pointed out, keeping his tone calm and quiet. The archangel would never claim that he was the most sensitive person, but he didn't want to make his little brother uncomfortable when the seraph had only just managed to speak his first few words to him.

"It was you who told me to take care of the situation with our brother in whatever way I see fit," Castiel stated in a nearly petulant tone. The seraph had done the best he could have in the situation and he stood by his decision, especially since his sandy-haired brother had agreed to it. Granted, the alternative had been to keep Tarot entrapped in a circle of holy fire in the basement and the seraph had known it.

"W-we c-can break the s-spell after… when…" Tarot mumbled, rocking forward and back in his seat in a motion he usually managed to draw some comfort from. If they lived through the Apocalypse, they could sever the bond, or so Castiel had told his brother. Tarot didn't know and didn't care how exactly that was going to work. In fact, the sandy-haired angel was quite content with the way things were. Of course, he was broken in ways that would always hurt and inconvenience him, but everything could have been much worse.

"That's a good keyword, if I've ever heard one," Dean interrupted the ongoing conversation the angels were having. It clearly wasn't going anywhere and they had other things to discuss anyway. "You were saying something about a way to stop the Apocalypse. Why don't we talk about that instead of making a big issue out of something that's not bothering anyone right now?"

Sam didn't say, that he for one was bothered by the implications of Tarot being bound to Bobby as he was and the younger Winchester knew for a fact that the older hunter didn't like it, either. Actually, Bobby had told Sam that it was very awkward to talk to a person, always having to be careful not to say anything that could come across as a command. Gabriel was right in his opinion about Bobby. The older hunter was pretty damn trustworthy. Dean was right, though. They had other things to talk about. Besides, his older brother wouldn't take it very well, if Sam sided with the archangel in the matter. Especially, when that also entailed siding against his brother's favorite angel.

"I don't have _a_ way to stop the Apocalypse," Gabriel replied, turning to look at the Winchesters and their mentor. The archangel had a winning expression firmly plastered on his face, as he finished his statement, "I have two."


	5. Chapter 4

**Author's note:** Thanks so much to Larkafree, Maknatuna, Maddy Love Castiel, RachelPhobia, kb18142, CherylB1964, FireChildSlytherin5,eiahlaie, Nicolene B, keacdragon, Chichi-10018, Kirabaros, XxZessxX, baileylovesyou0400, random yet loveable, Fallen's child, trained to kill and one guest for last chapter's reviews!

Special thanks to Treeni for beta-reading!

Look out for my Halloween one-shot! I'll post it on Thursday under the title of "An aimless witch". Brownie points for anyone who knows the book the title references ("A nameless witch" by A. Lee Martinez)

* * *

**4**

"How the hell did you find two ways to stop the Apocalypse?" Dean demanded to know, as soon as the realization of what Gabriel had just said had sunk in. The older Winchester could buy that the archangel knew of a way to stop the Apocalypse, because there was no use denying that Gabriel would know more about these things than they did. It begged the question then why the angelic douche had taken this long to tell them about it, though. Whatever, beggars couldn't be choosers, Dean had been prepared to give whatever plan Gabriel told them about a chance, if it sounded realistic. However, that the archangel suddenly claimed to have two ways for them to get out of what heaven and hell claimed were their destinies, was suspicious.

"I've got my sources," Gabriel shrugged casually, "If it makes you feel better, Dean-o, it took me over six weeks to gather all the information I needed. No need to feel bad about not finding them with your limited possibilities."

In fact, the humans wouldn't have stood much of a chance to uncover any of the information the archangel had acquired with the help of Metatron. They wouldn't have been able to find the seraph to begin with and they wouldn't have known what to offer to Metatron to get him on board with them. Gabriel wasn't sure if the part about getting revenge on the archangels or the part about being kept out of everything after handing over the needed information had been more important to his brother, but both together had been an offer the scribe hadn't been able to refuse. Not that the archangel would have wanted to work with Metatron a second longer than necessary.

"Where did you find information like that, brother?" Castiel asked, frowning. The seraph did not doubt that his older brother had a lot of sources, but the angel felt that he had to right to know which of Gabriel's sources would have extensive knowledge of the Apocalypse.

"The scribe was happy to assist me," Gabriel replied, grinning. Happy was by no means the right word to describe how Metatron had acted when he had seen the archangel, not that any of the others would know that. It would have to stay Gabriel's little inside joke.

"Metatron is a runaway, a traitor and an enemy of heaven," Castiel stated, distaste all too apparent in his tone.

"So?" Gabriel retorted. Apparently, the archangel needed to spell the obvious out for his little brother. "Right now that applies to all of us. Who's better to figure out how to thwart heaven's plans than somebody who's wanted to rain on their parade for ages?"

The older Winchester had to admit that everything Gabriel had said sounded logical, but he didn't like Castiel's reaction to hearing the name of the archangel's source. Dean trusted Cas' judgment more than Gabriel's any day.

"What are the plans?" Sam asked quickly before anybody could change the subject. The younger Winchester just wanted Gabriel to tell them how they could end the Apocalypse. Sam was at a point where he didn't care what he'd have to do to stop what he had started. Just as long as there was an opportunity that he could stop it.

"Alright, listen up. Basically we have plan B, which you two are already working on," Gabriel started to explain, "Getting the rings of the four horsemen."

It paid that the archangel had kept an eye on Sam and Dean even before he had lured them into TV-land. Gabriel knew that they had already met and beaten War, which only left the other three horsemen. Famine and Pestilence wouldn't be easy to get rid of that was for sure, but it was Death they really had to worry about.

"Why are we working on plan B?" Dean asked in a challenging tone, crossing his arms in front of his chest. The older Winchester wouldn't like to hear it, but he reminded the archangel a lot of a certain twelve year old kid he took care of recently.

"Because plan A involves getting things like the Philosopher's Stone, but if you think you'd do better with that than me, by all means, go ahead!" Gabriel offered, spreading his arms. Of course, the archangel didn't want the Winchesters to work on plan A for other reasons as well, but if he so much as hinted at that, he'd have three very suspicious hunters at his hands. If everything went well, the two brothers would only find out about those other reasons when it was already too late to stop him.

"Oh please, how hard can that be? An eleven year old could do it!" Dean snorted. It wasn't surprising that the reference went straight over Castiel's head, while Sam only shook his head slightly, shooting his brother one of his best 'really, Dean, really?' looks. At least, it looked like Bobby was amused.

"Let me guess, you're still waiting for your admission letter to Hogwarts?" Gabriel asked in a teasing tone. The archangel fully expected the older Winchester to take the bait and get upset, but was surprised when Sam was the one who got impatient with him.

"Can we please get back to stopping the Apocalypse?" the younger Winchester piped up, clearly anxious to return to their initial topic. Sam's eyes met Gabriel's for a short moment. The taller man thought he saw the archangel's expression soften for a moment, but he might have imagined it.

"Sure thing, Sambo," Gabriel replied in an upbeat tone, clapping once to get everyone's attention before he continued to explain, "The rings of the horsemen combined are the key to Lucifer's cage. If we can open it, we can shove his ass back in."

Dean huffed, but didn't say a word. Unfortunately, the archangel's plan was the best one they had – though Gabriel apparently believed that he had a better one up his sleeve yet – but that didn't mean that the older Winchester had to like it. Getting the rings off the horsemen's fingers would be bad enough, but having to get close enough to Lucifer to shove him back into his box was downright suicidal!

"I have to agree with Dean-o there. It's too damn risky, which is why it's plan B," Gabriel stated, as if he was reacting to something the older Winchester had said out loud. Sometimes, a huff said more than a thousand words. "Plan A is getting the things for a spell together that'll make it impossible for Michael and Lucifer to go through with their prize fight."

The archangel knew that he wouldn't get away without saying more on the topic. None of the people present trusted Gabriel enough to just take that very unspecific description and roll with it, even for a couple of minutes.

"How?" Bobby asked. In theory, any possibility to keep the two archangels from butting heads was a chance they should take. That however, didn't mean that it would be a good idea to just take the trickster's word for anything. Even if Gabriel would work to collect the ingredients he needed for the spell by himself, they should still have a general idea of what the archangel was doing. Not to mention that there was a chance that Bobby could find some sort of confirmation Gabriel had told them the truth about the spell in the first place.

"Those two clashing is like a bunch of atom bombs going off, but not if we take the explosives out," the archangel replied, letting his eyes wander from one man to another to see, if everyone had understood what he had been talking about.

"You intend to strip them of their powers?" Castiel frowned. It seemed logical, that Gabriel would prefer an option that would most likely leave both Lucifer and Michael alive. If the spell the archangel was speaking about was legitimate, it would be the most peaceful way to stop the Apocalypse from running its course, too.

"Someone give the man a cookie," Gabriel stated with a grin, snapping his fingers and making an enormous cookie appear in Castiel's hand when nobody else moved to do as he had said. It was quite humorous how the seraph eyed the cookie and tilted his head, unsure of what to do with it now that he had it.

"I have never heard of a spell like that," Castiel replied, looking for a place to put the pastry down. There were chocolate chips in it and they were melting in the seraph's hands. In the end, the angel put the cookie at the edge of Bobby's desk, making a mental note to offer it to Dean later on. The older Winchester might appreciate it.

"I've seen it with my own two eyes. Word of God," Gabriel said solemnly. "The ingredients will be hard to get, but it's the best shot we have."

The archangel snapped his fingers again, conjuring up a piece of paper and handing it to Sam. Even though Gabriel wanted to be on good enough terms with everyone around to be able to work with them without greater troubles than absolutely necessary, the younger Winchester was the one the archangel really hoped to get along with again. It was foolish to hope that Sam was ever going to look at Gabriel the way his eight year old self had again, but he hoped becoming friends might be possible.

"The Philosopher's Stone, a fruit of the tree of life… the holy grail?" the younger Winchester read out loud, his eyebrows rising in further disbelief with every point of the list he recited. "Hard to get, huh?"

Bobby took the list from Sam the moment the younger hunter was done reading. It sounded too insane to be true, so the older hunter had to see for himself. Any spell calling for all of these things had to be damn powerful, but judging by what they were trying to achieve, it was a given that it'd need a lot of juice.

"I'm on it," Gabriel said with a confident smile, "Besides, looking at plan B, your shopping list isn't that much better than mine."

Sam huffed, but smiled slightly as he shook his head. The younger Winchester didn't need to say that having a list of seemingly impossible things was still better than having nothing at all and he knew that his brother could agree with that. At least, they'd have something to work toward.

"I say, we meet again tomorrow morning to talk strategies," Gabriel suggested a moment later. The Winchesters had a long drive behind them and it wasn't like anything was going to happen in one night. Besides, the archangel had a feeling he should leave the boys and their mentor alone for a while so they could discuss things they wouldn't want to speak about while Gabriel was listening.

"Fine," Dean replied with a sigh, "You bring the pie."

If they had to see the trickster regularly, they might as well get something out of it. Dean could admit that every single pie Gabriel had given to them while they were staying at his place had been delicious.

"Why, Dean-o, I'm starting to think there's something about me you like," Gabriel retorted in a mocking tone, before he disappeared.

"I'll look into this," Sam announced, trying and failing to hide his grin with the piece of paper he had taken back from Bobby in the meantime. While he was at it, the younger Winchester also intended to see if he could find some information on the other horsemen of the Apocalypse. The more they knew before Gabriel came back, the better.

The older Winchester nodded curtly, waiting for his younger brother to leave the room, before he turned his attention toward Castiel. There was an issue that needed to be addressed and Dean wasn't happy with the fact that he hadn't even known the problem existed before he had accidentally witnessed a conversation between Gabriel and Castiel.

"C'mon, boy, there is a broken clock in the attic I meant to show you," Bobby addressed Tarot, who hadn't moved from his seat in the corner the entire time the archangel had been present. In fact, it had been easy to forget that the angel was there at all. Bobby didn't think that Dean would want to have a talk with Castiel while Tarot was still listening and he also didn't want the older Winchester to – accidentally – scare the angel by telling him to get out or something alike.

The sandy-haired angel stood up immediately, staying as close to the wall as he could while he approached Bobby. It seemed like Tarot was really looking forward to getting his hands on yet another broken clock or watch to repair. That and brewing coffee were the two things that never failed to make the seraph happy, for some time at least.

"Cas, how bad is it really?" Dean asked as soon as he and Castiel were alone. The older Winchester had known that Castiel had been kicked out of heaven and that it was affecting him in some way, but he hadn't known what that meant exactly. After the bit of revealing information Dean had overheard earlier, he wanted to know more.

"I don't…" Castiel replied, before he was rudely interrupted.

"You know exactly what I'm talking about," Dean insisted staring the angel down, which was by no means an easy task. The older Winchester could understand that Castiel probably wanted to ignore the issue. As much as Dean hated it when Sam didn't let him get away with that sort of behavior, he still wouldn't let the topic go.

"As you know, I have lost the ability to heal," Castiel admitted, taking a deep breath and letting it out slowly before he added, "I find it is getting more difficult to perform tasks like transporting people or flying great distances."

Dean had to admit that he had never given much thought to how hard or easy these angel-things were for Castiel. Looking at how frustrated Castiel obviously was from the decrease of his powers, the older Winchester realized he should have considered these things earlier.

"Okay," Dean finally stated ineloquently, "That sucks, man."

"I am still capable…" Castiel began to defend himself, before he was once more interrupted.

"I know, Cas," Dean replied, putting a hand on his friend's shoulder, "You're still badass. I know that."

Despite himself, Castiel smiled.


	6. Chapter 5

**Author's note:** Thanks so much to Larkafree, Maknatuna, Maddy Love Castiel, kb18142, CherylB1964, Kirabaros, PercyJfan1802, RachelPhobia, random yet loveable, eiahlaie, Nicolene B, Chichi-10018, trained to kill, Dannichigo, Pizzapig, BritishSweden, FireChildSlytherin5, baileylovesyou0400, fallen's child, XxZessxX and keacdragon for last chapter's reviews!

Special thanks to Treeni for beta-reading!

**Update: **If you liked my Halloween story of the year **"An Aimless Witch" **you might be interested in the continuation of the story by the wonderful Treeni called **"A Determined Familiar"**

* * *

**5**

Sam spent a couple of hours brushing up his knowledge on the myths surrounding the objects Gabriel needed for the spell he wanted to work. It wouldn't hurt to know what they were talking about, even if the younger Winchester had been sure that he and Dean wouldn't stand much of a chance to acquire the objects themselves. Sam didn't have a problem with Gabriel being the one responsible for these things anyway, but he had a feeling that his older brother wouldn't agree with him on that easily.

In the end, the younger Winchester fell asleep over a stack of papers and books. Sam knew it was going to be a bad night before the dreamscape around him was even fully formed. He had learned how to read the signs some time ago. The younger Winchester wasn't alone in his dream, he could feel the other presence even before he saw the fallen angel standing in the middle of the park Sam had dreamed up.

At least, Lucifer had stopped disguising himself after those first few times when he had let Sam believe that he was Jessica. The younger Winchester didn't like feeling grateful for anything the devil did, but he was certainly glad that Lucifer was appearing as his current vessel these days.

Sam tried his best to completely ignore the other man's presence, turning around to walk away. Honestly, what the younger Winchester hated the most about Lucifer's nightly visits was that the devil always ended up seeing something that felt deeply personal to Sam. The park they were in was the place where the younger Winchester had learned his first few soccer moves as a kid. It was questionable if Lucifer knew anything about that or how exposed it made him feel, but he was an intruding in one of Sam's memories, anyway.

"Don't be like that, Sam," Lucifer said in a deceptively soft tone, suddenly standing in front of the younger Winchester again, "We can have a nice civilized talk, can't we?"

Sam huffed and crossed his arms in front of his chest in exasperation. Walking away wasn't an option, he had known it wasn't even before he had tried. The younger Winchester attempted to give a clear sign that he didn't want anything to do with the devil, though. "I don't want to talk to you."

"Why not? Afraid you'll say yes to me accidentally?" Lucifer asked, an amused smile tugging at his lips, "I wouldn't let that happen, Sam. I want your consent and I'm going to get it eventually, no need for trickery. Don't you see Sam? We want the same thing: a better world and we can make it, together."

The worst thing about the devil as the younger Winchester knew him was how nice Lucifer could appear, if he wanted. Compared to the other angels they had come across, Lucifer wasn't even that pushy and this far he hadn't done anything that counted as torturing Sam to get what he wanted. The younger Winchester knew exactly where all this was going though, once Lucifer managed to make Sam believe in his twisted honesty enough to let his guard down.

"Though, even you have to admit that it would be humorous. Me asking you 'Do you really want me to leave you alone?' and that was what got you to say 'Yes'," Lucifer mused, his body language completely relaxed, like he was in control of everything that was going to happen. To be fair, the fallen angel was in control. When the human failed to give a reaction to the devil's statement, Lucifer shrugged casually, saying, "No? I guess it's only funny for an outsider."

Sam pulled a face, but didn't comment. It was bad enough that the fallen angel insisted on talking to him ever so often, the younger Winchester really didn't want Lucifer to go all comedian on him now, on top of everything. It was just another pathetic trick to win his favor. Strangely enough, the devil stayed quiet for a few long moments. The silence was only broken when Sam snapped, "What do you want? Why are you even here? You already said that I'll come to you in Detroit."

"Is it really so bad for me to want to stay in touch with my vessel? We're going to spend a lot of time together in the future, Sam, I'd like to get to know you before then," Lucifer replied kindly. It would save them all a lot of frustration and grief, if Sam would only accept his place. The fallen angel was only trying to make that easier for the human. The hunter would see that Lucifer wasn't the villain in this story soon enough. Once the younger Winchester accepted that fact, they could work together to fulfill their destinies.

"I'll never say yes to you!" Sam declared with conviction. The younger Winchester wasn't going to let his brother down, not again. Sam wasn't going to make a mistake even bigger than his last. They had plans now, even if the younger Winchester couldn't allow himself to think of them, because Lucifer might pick up on something the devil really wasn't meant to know. They were going to stop the Apocalypse, their way.

"We've been over this," Lucifer sighed disappointed, even though his empathy was fake, "Yes you will. Not today, but some day. It's what you were born for."

The fallen angel could see that his vessel wasn't quite ready yet. The younger Winchester still held some hopes of evading his destiny. The human would first have to see that there was no getting away, before he would be able to accept his fate.

"Think about it Sam. You never fit in. Not with your family and not with anybody else," Lucifer added in a nearly tender tone, stepping closer to the taller man, "Because you always belonged with me."

Sam shook his head in denial, stumbling back when the fallen angel took one more step toward him. Lucifer had this way of hitting by far too close to home with his statements for the younger Winchester's liking, but expecting the devil to show some common courtesy and decency was stupid anyway.

"Don't listen to him!" Gabriel exclaimed, suddenly appearing next to Sam. Lucifer's entire body language changed from relaxed and collected to tense and aggressive so quickly that it made the younger Winchester's head spin. However, Sam's main focus was on the smaller man with the golden eyes that were fixed on his. Before his older brother could say or do anything, Gabriel extended his arm toward the human. "Take my hand. I'll make it alright, munchkin."

* * *

Sam woke up with a start, sitting up so quickly that he knocked Gabriel's hand off his head, before he even realized that it was there. The archangel was looking at the younger Winchester worriedly, standing just a little too close to the human for comfort. Then again, Sam wasn't exactly uncomfortable, either. Maybe this was why Dean always complained about Castiel not understanding the concept of personal space, but never did anything against it anyway.

"Are you having dreams like that often?" Gabriel asked in a soft tone similar to the one Lucifer had used earlier, but it didn't raise any of the same alarm bells in Sam because the emotion in Gabe's voice was honest. The younger Winchester knew that he should have been way more wary of the archangel in front of him, but he couldn't bring himself to care too much when Gabriel had just gotten him out of one of his nightmares. Sam settled for simply nodding his answer to the question he had been asked.

"Alright, that's over now," the archangel smiled sadly and put his palms against the sides of Sam's head. Gabriel thought about warning the younger Winchester to try and not get his head scanned anytime soon, because the doctors wouldn't know what to think of the new warding sigils they'd find, but the situation didn't call for humor.

"Thank you," Sam sighed, a weight he hadn't even realized he was carrying was lifted off his shoulders. In theory, as long as Lucifer didn't get more forceful in his methods, all the younger Winchester had to do was saying no every time the devil showed up in his dreams or otherwise. On paper it looked simple, but Sam himself hadn't even fully realized how much pressure the situation put on him, until Gabriel had ended it.

"We need to talk, Sam," the archangel insisted, once it looked like the younger Winchester was capable enough to tackle another problem that really needed to be dealt with, "About what you said back at the hospital."

There hadn't been a good moment to bring up the obvious issues between them before, but Gabriel didn't intend to ignore them for a moment longer than absolutely necessary. For his plans to work out in the best way possible, the archangel needed the other team members to trust him. Gabriel knew that he'd never have Dean's full trust and that it would be very hard to get Bobby's, but he had some hopes to win Castiel, Tarot and the younger Winchester over.

"Look, I'm sorry, I am," Sam was quick to assure the archangel, "I was angry and overwhelmed and I just… I… I really get it now, okay? You were trying to teach me a lesson to prevent all this from happening in the first place and I just didn't understand it."

Granted, the archangel had tried to use a language to get through to the younger Winchester that Sam simply hadn't understood, but after everything that had happened due to his refusal to let his revenge on Lilith go and deal with Dean's death, Sam got what lesson the trickster had tried to teach him. The younger Winchester still couldn't imagine not doing anything and everything in his power to keep Dean from going to hell, if he was faced with a similar situation again, but he now understood that he had gone about it the wrong way.

"How is it your fault that I make a very bad teacher?" Gabriel retorted, his voice taking on a harsher tone than he had meant to use. Somehow hearing Sam belittling his – more or less – justified feelings over something that had been done to him – by the archangel nonetheless – made Gabriel angry. Not so much at the younger Winchester, but at whoever or whatever had ever taught the taller man that way of thinking. Then again, Gabriel had probably done his part in that respect, too.

"What?" Sam asked ineloquently, staring at the archangel like he couldn't believe what he had just heard. The younger Winchester hadn't liked it when Gabriel had made excuses for Sam's behavior, but the way the archangel had put his self-accusations into a question caused the tall human think about it more carefully than he usually would have before dismissing it.

"I admit, back then I meant every word I said and I felt fully justified in my actions," Gabriel went on, choosing his words carefully, "But I didn't really get you back then. I didn't know you."

"Because you know me so much better now," Sam snorted.

"I do," Gabriel insisted, fixing Sam's eyes with his own to convey how serious he was about all this, "You're not eight years old anymore, but that little munchkin is still somewhere inside your overgrown self."

The younger Winchester didn't have anything to say to that. Of course, the kid he had been held a certain influence on the adult he was now, even though Sam often felt like he had let his younger self down in almost every single aspect of his life. That kid had hopes and dreams and Sam had messed them all up.

"The one difference between that kid and you I see is that back then you allowed yourself to be scared," Gabriel added a moment later, smiling fondly while he thought back to the eight year old who had come to the archangel for reassurance when the weight of things had become too much for him to carry alone. Actually, Gabriel had only come to appreciate that after the children had been gone from his life again. It had felt good to take care of somebody again and to be a person others looked up to for guidance and comfort. It had reminded the archangel of a time when the seraphs had still been young and in need of a big brother to guide them and of a time when Gabriel had still cared about people enough to really listen to their problems and worries.

"If you think that I don't get scared anymore…" Sam began, in a clearly confused tone. The younger Winchester wasn't quite sure what the archangel had tried to say, but he felt like it had been important enough to ask for clarification.

"That's not what I'm saying," Gabriel interrupted Sam, "I'll bet you get scared a lot and that you're scared of a lot of the same things you were scared of as a kid. I just think you're keeping all that stowed away behind a wall of anger. Keeps you standing, let's you go on fighting when you want to cower in fear and cry."

The anger that had led the younger Winchester on the very dark path that had made him break the last seal, was at its core the fear Sam had always had of losing his brother and being left behind all alone. The archangel could see these facts all too clearly now.

"Look, Sam, I just wanted to tell you that I'm sorry for passing judgment over you without bothering to understand your real motivation first," Gabriel concluded, putting a hand on the younger Winchester's shoulder. The archangel felt like they both really could use the contact. Holding back had never been Gabriel's strong suit. Besides, he thought that Sam would give him a clear sign, if he didn't want to be touched.

"I don't know what… thank you," the younger Winchester replied, smiling slightly. It wasn't exactly the dimpled smile Gabriel would have liked to see, but they had a lot of time to make that happen. The archangel doubted that they could get the same kind of connection back they had had when Sam had been a child, but maybe they could create a new one that'd also allow the younger Winchester to give one of his adorable, carefree smiles that showed off his dimples every now and then.

"No sweat, kiddo," Gabriel shrugged, before he added in a conspiratorial whisper, "You're still my favorite, you know?"

The archangel wasn't quite sure what kind of reaction he had expected to his little confession – that was a lot more heartfelt than Sam probably gave him credit for – but the one he got made him very happy anyway.

"I'm glad you're here."


	7. Chapter 6

**Author's note: **Thanks so much to Larkafree, Maknatuna, Maddy Love Castiel, RachelPhobia, FireChildSlytherin5, Kirabaros, kb18142, Keefer, CherylB1964, eiahlaie, Nyx Ro, Chichi-10018, Nicolene B, random yet loveable, Dannichigo, Fallen's child, Improbabile, Riceball-1989 and XxZessxX for last chapter's reviews!

Special thanks to Treeni for beta-reading!

* * *

**6**

Everything was quiet when Sam - Gabriel in tow - made his way to the kitchen. Bobby's house was one of the very few places where Dean felt comfortable enough to sleep through the night and the oldest hunter was probably sleeping like a baby after finally spending time on his feet, just because he could again. Sam didn't know when exactly Castiel had left or where he had gone, but their angelic friend never stayed the night so his absence wasn't anything to be worried over.

The younger Winchester wasn't proud of it, but he jumped a little after reaching for the light switch in Bobby's kitchen and suddenly being faced with Tarot standing just a couple feet away from him. The angel hurried to put more distance between them immediately, though Sam assumed it was more about the archangel than him.

"I just wanted a cup of coffee," the younger Winchester explained, his voice automatically adopting a quiet and soft tone he had started to use around the seraph. More often than not the angel looked uncomfortable with being addressed no matter who was talking to him and no matter what tone of voice they used, but Sam would have felt like a bastard if he hadn't at least tried to make things as comfortable as he could for the seraph.

Gabriel was about to snap his fingers and simply give the younger Winchester the coffee he wanted, when Sam grabbed his hand and stopped him, nodding toward Tarot. The archangel frowned uncomprehendingly, before he realized that there was a small smile on his younger brother's face as the seraph worked Bobby's coffee machine. It seemed ridiculous and illogical, but it was the happiest Gabriel had seen his brother since that night in the warehouse when Castiel had captured him.

"Brewing coffee is therapeutic, who knew?" Gabriel commented casually, shaking his head. The archangel was still nowhere near happy with the way his younger brother was living these days, but at least he had seen some sign that Tarot was – at least sometimes – content, but there was room for improvement. Gabriel had noticed a few things about the seraph that only needed a bit of grace and a touch to fix. After the archangel had already made a little breakthrough with the younger Winchester earlier, he felt in the mood to continue working on getting on the good side of people he cared about. Gabriel reached out toward his younger brother, only realizing his mistake when it was too late already.

The coffee cup Tarot had held out for Sam to take shattered on the floor, the angel's shaking hands unable to hold on to it any longer before he cowered against the wall, the seraph's arms shielding his head. The younger Winchester quickly took hold of Gabriel's shoulders before the archangel could make the mistake Sam had, when first faced with a scene like this. As tempting as offering comfort might be, they had to leave the angel alone so he could pull himself together again.

Apparently, the younger Winchester had misjudged what Gabriel's first impulse was, though. The archangel left the kitchen even before Sam could say anything or prompt him to move. The younger Winchester couldn't help thinking that he should have expected it. Gabriel had abandoned all of heaven before, after all.

"Gabriel, it wasn't your fault," Sam said in a soothing tone, as soon as he caught up with the archangel, "Only Bobby can touch him without something like that happening."

The younger Winchester wasn't sure if it was a side-effect of the strange bond between Bobby and Tarot or if the angel had simply learned to trust the older hunter over the weeks, but Bobby was the only person who didn't make the seraph panic with a simple touch. Sam understood that the situation had to be frustrating for Gabriel.

"Heaven was screwed up when I left," the archangel stated in a strangely detached voice, keeping his back to the younger Winchester for a moment longer before he turned around to face the taller man. The fire in Gabriel's eyes stood in stark contrast to the way he had been speaking and it surprised Sam immensely.

"This is screwed up!" the archangel declared in a heated tone, waving his hand toward the kitchen, "And I did nothing to stop it!"

The Winchesters had hunted the trickster more than once, always knowing that they were putting their lives in danger when doing it. Still, Sam had to say that while the trickster had always been a monster, he hadn't exactly scared him. Not in the way a wendigo gave him the creeps when only looking at it, or the way a ghost screamed danger the moment he laid eyes on it. The trickster was very dangerous, but he had never looked the part. That moment however, the younger Winchester could see Gabriel's scary side. The intensity of the archangel's look and words was menacing without a doubt, Sam wasn't sure what to make of it, though.

"Don't do this to yourself," the younger Winchester sighed, "Look, it sucks, it does, but if you start blaming yourself already…"

In all honesty, Sam was a little afraid that Gabriel might walk out on them all, if things became too difficult for the archangel's liking. Granted, he had stuck with them to the end when they had been children in his care, but looking at what they were trying to do, things would get a lot worse than they had been that Halloween evening with Zachariah after them.

"We could really use your help in this," Sam stated seriously, looking directly into Gabriel's eyes, "And not just for now. I'm talking about long term."

The younger Winchester wanted to believe that the archangel had thought all of this through and that he wasn't going to abandon the mission, leaving them to sort things out on their own. However, the truth was that things had changed since Sam had been a little kid who looked up to the angel and trusted with every fiber of his being that he'd make things right. Maybe, a little voice in Sam's mind supplied, things hadn't changed as much as Sam feared.

"I'm not going anywhere," Gabriel promised with a smile and added, "We're going to make a change! We're going to tear this freaking system down!"

Sam knew Dean was going to rip him a new one for it, but the younger Winchester believed what the archangel was saying. As much as the taller man knew that he should at least have a little doubt, he didn't. Sam thought that Gabriel had been remarkably honest with him a couple of times when the younger Winchester was an eight year old boy, but it was nothing compared to the sincerity the archangel had spoken with in the past few minutes. It was scary in a way, but more than anything else, it gave Sam hope.

The moment between the two men was over when they heard Dean walking downstairs, obviously on the phone with someone. Gabriel put his usual smirk back on his face just before the older Winchester entered the room. Sam wasn't sure if he was honored or worried, because the archangel had apparently meant for nobody, but him to see the raw honesty he was capable of.

"Blueberry pie, Sambo, antioxidants galore!" the archangel stated, as if they really had a conversation about pie before Dean had come along, "It's healthy! Besides, by now you're really done growing… I hope."

Sam shook his head, more about the sudden change of mood in Gabriel than the stupid joke, but only smiled and took the pie from the archangel's hands. That the thing had appeared out of thin air wasn't exactly a surprise and probably wouldn't have made Dean suspicious, even if he hadn't been busy with his phone call. From the sounds of it, the older Winchester was talking about a possible haunting, so they'd be on the road again after breakfast the latest.

* * *

Sam and Dean had been on the road for less than four hours when both their cell phones announced the arrival of a text message at exactly the same time.

"Seven days until Christmas at old grumpy's house, I'll bring the booze," the younger Winchester read out loud, wishing he hadn't the moment his brother groaned deeply and glared into his direction. It wasn't like Dean knew that it had been Sam who had brought the wish to have a nice Christmas celebration up to Gabriel – though in his defense he had been under the influence of heavy medication then – but the older Winchester had always been one for shooting the messenger.

"Come on, Dean, it's only a suggestion," Sam shrugged as casually as he could, putting his phone away, "We'll probably still be busy with the case then, anyway."

Besides, it wasn't like they wouldn't have gone back to Bobby's anyway, after they were done making sure that their old babysitter's house was safe for her and her family to live in again. From what Dean had told his younger brother, it sounded like a poltergeist. Unfortunately, the thing had already gotten violent and had wounded Clara's daughter.

"We haven't been busy with a simple salt and burn for a week ever since… we've never been busy with a simple salt and burn for over a week ever!" Dean shot back with a snort. Sometimes the older Winchester could appreciate his brother's tries to help him calm down, but not when they were as stupid and unrealistic as this one had been! The trip there and back was going to take them a day each at least, but that still left them with more than enough time to find information on the ghost and burning the bones before they'd have to make the drive back to be at Bobby's for Christmas.

"So? It might still turn out to be something else. Knowing our luck it's something that'll take until New Year's!" Sam huffed. Things had never been easy for them and they hadn't gotten lucky that often in their lives, but lately their misfortune had reached ridiculous levels. Then again, they had an archangel on their side and two new plans to stop the Apocalypse. Only Dean seemed to add those factors to the list of negative things.

"You'd like that, wouldn't you?" Dean suddenly asked in an accusing tone, "Spending Christmas with him."

It was quite likely that they would have gone back to Bobby's after dealing with the ghost situation at Clara's house, unless something else had come up. They would have spent Christmas there ignoring the holidays together as much as they could. Hell, maybe they wouldn't even have ignored it all and maybe would have watched a couple movies on TV while getting drunk on spiked eggnog. Dean wouldn't have minded any of that.

What the older Winchester minded was knowing that the archangel was planning things for them and that they really didn't have anything to say in it. Dean planned to tell the short douchebag exactly what he thought of that as soon as he got the chance. Hell, the older Winchester would probably write a text message as soon as they stopped next just to make sure that Gabriel understood that things weren't going to go his way all the time.

That Sam didn't even seem to mind the stupid archangel's games, was worrying and infuriating at the same time. Dean really didn't want to have a discussion about how things with Ruby had gone for them, but it looked more and more likely that he'd have to remind his little brother of exactly that. The prospect of a discussion like that alone was enough to ruin the older Winchester's day.

"You know what? I don't like talking to you when you're like that," Sam replied in a sour tone, crossing his arms in front of his chest. The younger Winchester understood he had messed things up for everyone, that basically everything that was going wrong with the world – at least everything new that was wrong with the world – was his fault. Sam also understood it was incredibly hard for Dean to trust anybody, but he had hoped his older brother had at least a little bit of trust in him left.

"Like what?" the older Winchester frowned. Dean could admit that he had used a bit of a harsh tone with his brother there, but it hadn't been anything out of the ordinary. Besides, if Sam decided to view another supernatural being - who had given them troubles before - as trustworthy, he really shouldn't be surprised when the older Winchester gave him grief over it.

"Jumping at my throat for things I never even said," Sam clarified, huffing out a deep breath to calm himself, before he went on speaking, "You probably don't even realize you're doing it anymore."

The younger Winchester reached for the radio to turn up the volume just a second later. As he had said, Sam really didn't want to finish the conversation they were having. Most of his brother's music wasn't really after the younger Winchester's taste, but he preferred all of it over having a fight with Dean. They were fighting far too often already.

It was a couple of hours before the brothers were even talking to each other again and then it was about the case they had to solve. By the time they stopped for the night just outside of Housatonic, Massachusetts things between them were mostly back to normal.

"You were right, Sam. I was… a little out of line," Dean stated awkwardly after they finished their Chinese takeout. His younger brother had been right when he had accused Dean of not even noticing anymore, how quick he was to assume the worst of Sam these days. The older Winchester couldn't promise that he'd change these things immediately - especially since there was still the problem with the angelic douchebag that unfortunately was closely linked to disapproving of things Sam did or said – but he could try.

"Thanks, Dean," the younger Winchester replied with a small, but genuine smile. Sam didn't doubt that there'd be an argument again the moment they finished the case and they would have to decide where to go from there, but at least that moment things between them were okay.


	8. Chapter 7

**Author's note:** Thanks so much to Larkafree, Maknatuna, Maddy Love Castiel, RachelPhobia, kb18142, Improbabile, CherylB1964, FireChildSlytherin5, Keefer, Nicolene B, Fallen's child, random yet loveable, Dannichigo, eiahlaie, Kirabaros, Nyx Ro, Chichi-10018, British Sweden, XxZessxX and baileylovesyou0400 for last chapter's reviews!

Special thanks to Treeni for beta-reading!

* * *

**7**

The older Winchester wasn't stupid. Something was definitely wrong with Sam. The way his younger brother had acted the past 24 hours was by no means normal and Dean had noticed of course. First of all, Sam had simply disappeared for hours and had had some flimsy excuse about getting dinner when he had shown up again the previous evening. It also wasn't like his younger brother to let the maid into the room while their weapons were out in the open, forcing them to change motels mid-case. The next morning there had been a few moments when the older Winchester could have sworn that his brother had forgotten everything about the hunt they were on. Then again, Sam had been the one who had uncovered the location of the buried bones in the end. The case had been closed quickly enough after that at least. Maggie Briggs' ghost was gone and their old babysitter's family was safe once more.

"I've been thinking," Dean stated when they both had their bacon cheeseburgers in front of them, "We can just pack our stuff and get back to Bobby's immediately, if that's what you want."

To tell the truth, the older Winchester still felt a little guilty about jumping at his brother's throat over spending Christmas with everyone at Bobby's, but that wasn't the only reason why Dean had changed his mind. The suggestion might have come from Gabriel, but hanging out with Bobby over the holidays in the house that was the one place – other than the Impala – that felt like home to them, wasn't such a horrible idea. As things were, they might not get another year to do it.

"Aw, man, but we're having fun here!" Sam surprisingly protested, looking at his brother with kicked puppy eyes. Something was different about that particular look on his younger brother's face, but Dean couldn't put his finger on it. The older Winchester was too surprised by Sam's reply to give the matter much thought, though.

"Alright, it's up to you, Sam," Dean shrugged, taking a long drink from his beer. The older Winchester was dying to ask what the hell was up with his little brother, but they had had an argument about Dean jumping at his brother's throat just a day ago. The older Winchester really didn't want Sam to be mad at him about the same freaking thing again after they had only just reconciled.

"It's just… we've had an awesome day, why not stay and celebrate?" the younger Winchester asked in a hopeful tone, his expression as openly joyful in a way Dean hadn't seen it in a long time. Actually, the older Winchester had seen that expression a lot only a couple weeks ago, when Sam had been reverted back to his eight year old self and had hung his little heart on the trickster.

"It was a random, D-list ghost hunt. That's… that's awesome to you now?" Dean huffed. The older Winchester realized that he should have been happy about his brother being more carefree, but Dean had the sinking feeling that his brother's better mood had less to do with the hunt and more to do with Gabriel.

"Yeah, I mean… don't you ever feel like nothing you do will ever be good enough? It's all been decided already, no escaping the big plan," Sam sighed before the smile that was beginning to unnerve his older brother was back on his face, "But then there was this… and – poof – we rocked it!"

Dean nearly choked on his beer as he listened to his brother talk. The older Winchester didn't know what exactly Gabriel had given to Sam – there was absolutely no chance that this change of behavior came from a simple talk – but Dean was going to deep fry himself an archangel for it as soon as he got his hands on the trickster.

"Know what? Forget it, Dean, I'm… I'm probably more drunk than I thought. Ha! Shouldn't have taken that drink while you were off to drain the lizard," Sam chuckled awkwardly, shrugging for good measure.

"Are you sure you're okay, Sam?" the older Winchester asked in growing bewilderment. Dammit, whatever Gabriel had done to Sam was bad enough that even in his altered state of mind, his younger brother should have been able to realize that something was off!

"Better than okay, awesome," the younger Winchester confirmed, finishing his beer before he added, "Actually, I think I'll go over to the bar for a few."

"Knock yourself out," Dean replied, watching his brother go. The older Winchester was going to get to the bottom of this, but he supposed there was no harm in letting Sam have some fun in the meantime.

* * *

The older Winchester was throwing the occasional side-glance toward Sam and the woman he was flirting with by the bar. To tell the truth, Dean often wished that his younger brother would show more interest in the nice and pleasant distractions from their damned lives they lead every day. Seeing Sam flirt as enthusiastically as he did, made Dean uneasy, however.

"What have you done to my brother?" the older Winchester hissed at the archangel, the moment Gabriel materialized on the other side of the booth Dean was sitting in. The little annoyance should better be there to fix whatever he had done to Sammy or the older Winchester would have to make sure that the archangel's ass got to know Dean's shoe, intimately.

"What have _you_ done to _my_ brother?" Gabriel shot back, mirroring the older Winchester's glare, "Castiel has been trying to call you over and over for hours!"

The blue-eyed seraph had called the archangel to let him know that he hadn't been able to get into contact with the Winchesters. It had been obvious that Castiel was very worried and expecting the worst. Strangely enough, in his frantic state the angel hadn't thought of simply asking Bobby Singer where exactly the boys had gone, but it had served Gabriel just right to go and investigate what all this was about himself. The archangel had the nagging suspicion that all this had something to do with a text message he had received saying he could take his Christmas plans and shove them up his ass.

"Wait, what?" Dean replied, clearly baffled by what he had just heard. In fact, the older Winchester even forgot for a moment that he was mad at the archangel. However, righteous indignation took over when realization set in that the tables were turned.

"Cassy says that they're planning something big upstairs. It really shook him when he couldn't get a hold of you!" Gabriel elaborated, before fixing the older Winchester's eyes with a soul searching stare that Dean usually associated with Castiel, "I get it, Dean-o, we're not going to be friends anytime soon, but if you continue to take it out on my little brother-"

The archangel hadn't expected things with the older Winchester to be smooth sailing. Dean was the brother who held grudges, the one who was dead set on seeing the world in black and white without the grey zones in between and the one who had always been suspicious when it came to Gabriel's motives. What the archangel hadn't expected, was that the older Winchester was willing to drag Castiel into a conflict that had nothing to do with the seraph.

"Okay, shut it," Dean interrupted Gabriel's little tirade, "I don't even know what you're talking about!"

This really wasn't going to way the older Winchester had expected. Dean had been sure that there'd be an argument the moment Gabriel showed up, he had even been prepared for a shouting match, but it was supposed to be about whatever the angelic douchebag had done to Sammy to change his personality so dramatically. Somehow, Dean was the bad guy in the story all of a sudden and he didn't like it one little bit, especially because he wasn't even sure what the archangel was going on about. The older Winchester hadn't ignored any calls, not from Castiel and not from anybody else. Though, putting a hand to his pocket, his phone wasn't to be found.

"Where is your brother, anyway?" Gabriel suddenly asked. The archangel had felt the strong need to vent his frustration, but now that he was mostly done with it, he realized that Dean had accused him of doing something to Sam before. That the younger Winchester wasn't with his brother had enabled Gabriel to have the serious talk he wanted to have with Dean, but it also seemed a little unusual.

Dean's only response to the question was a loud snort and a nod toward the bar where Sam had been talking to a blonde woman for a couple of minutes already. By the looks of it, the two were getting along well. If the older Winchester hadn't known his little brother better than that, he would have assumed that they were moments from ending up in some hotel with hourly rates or back at the woman's home. Dean didn't get to contemplate the topic any further before Gabriel abruptly stood up, making his way over to the bar. The archangel's body language said all too clearly that he was pissed off and about to blow up, which was all the reason the older Winchester needed to walk after the shorter, but notoriously vengeful man.

"Crystal, I would love to have the sex with you," Sam declared just a moment before he got pulled out of his seat roughly, by a guy who looked too small to be able to do so with the ease he did.

"No, he wouldn't!" Gabriel growled, shooting the woman a glare that made her scramble off her seat and toward the exit of the bar. The archangel got a good grip on Sam's shoulder, pulling the man closer for a thorough inspection. Gabriel realized that he might look like a jealous and scorned lover to the people around, but that was so far from the truth he didn't pay the thought any mind.

"What have you done?" the archangel demanded in an icy tone, not releasing the other man, but keeping him at arm's length. Gabriel really didn't want to have the human any closer to him than was absolutely necessary that very moment. Not after what he had just discovered.

"Woah, man, I don't…" Sam tried to reply, before the archangel shook him none too gently. The taller man wondered why none of the other patrons reacted to the scene they were causing, but he supposed that civil courage had never been that great around these parts. He'd have expected Dean to do something about that short man shaking the life out of his brother, though.

"Don't you dare!" Gabriel rudely interrupted the human's attempt to defend himself. The archangel wasn't in the mood to hear any lies out of the mouth of the other man, instead he demanded once more, "What have you done?"

Dean had been watching the scene between his younger brother and the archangel with growing bewilderment. If the older Winchester hadn't been too perplexed to do anything much, he would have intervened earlier.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Dean asked the archangel in a sharp tone, stepping in between his brother and the archangel. The older Winchester had the feeling that there was something about the situation he didn't understand and someone should better tell him what it was already!

"Are you blind or just fucking stupid?" Gabriel nearly yelled, grabbing Sam by his shoulder and shaking him once more, "This is not your brother!"

The archangel had made sure that the other people around would turn a blind eye to what was going on between the three of them as soon as Crystal had been out of the picture. It wouldn't do any good to have someone call the police on them or if some well-intended moron thought he had to help the person currently in Sam's body.

"Dean, I… I don't know…" the imposer stammered, trying to get the older Winchester to do something about the little maniac. Gary knew that he wouldn't be able to convince anyone that he was really Sam Winchester for long, but he needed a little more time and right now Dean's support was the only chance he had to still go through with the plan.

"Good try, you moron," Gabriel snarled before the older Winchester could say anything, letting enough of his angelic side through his eyes shone golden, "I can see your soul,"

"If… if he's not Sam, who is he?" Dean asked in a cold tone, ignoring the imposer. The older Winchester really couldn't stand being played for a sucker and that was exactly what had happened in the past 24 hours. "And where the hell is Sam?"

"We're going to find out," Gabriel replied, snapping his fingers to transport them back to the Winchesters' motel room. Whatever was going to happen, wasn't something that should be done in public.

"You better tell us everything we want to know, before I show you exactly what happens to people who anger me," the archangel stated in a fake sweet tone as soon as they had the imposer bound to a chair. It was more for the psychological effect than anything else, Gabriel didn't sense any kind of power in the other man that would make it possible for him to escape an archangel.

"You… you're bluffing… you wouldn't…" Gary stammered, obviously unsure of what he had just said. They wouldn't do anything to him as long as he was in Sam's body though, would they?

"Kiddo, I've got a million ways to make you wish you were dead without doing any harm to Sam's body," Gabriel explained calmly, leaning closer to the taller man and raising his fingers ready to snap before he spoke on, "You can have a demonstration, if you'd like."

"Don't look at me, I'd like to see that," Dean stated, crossing his arms in front of his chest, when the look alike turned his eyes to the older Winchester looking for help. The puppy dog look wasn't quite as effective, knowing that it wasn't really Sam who was using it. That at least answered one age old question. It wasn't only about the puppy dog eyes, it was mostly about his younger brother using them.

"Okay, I'm talking, I'm talking!"


	9. Chapter 8

**Author's note: **Thanks so much to Larkafree, Maknatuna, Maddy Love Castiel, Keefer, CherylB1964, FireChildSlyterin5, RachelPhobia, Nicolene B, XxZessxX, eiahlaie, Nyx Ro, BritishSweden, Dannichigo, kb18142, trained to kill, Dark Knight Warrior, keacdragon, random yet loveable and Fallen's child for last chapter's reviews!

Special thanks to Treeni for beta-reading!

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**8**

Sam decided that spending a night and day in a teenager's body and having to deal with said teenager's family – especially his parents – may have been bad; not that there had been anything pleasant about that experience, but being sedated and kidnapped by the teenage witch's friends and ending up bound to a chair in a basement was definitely worse.

Hearing that the teenagers had spoken to demons and were out to kill Dean, because apparently the demons had put out a bounty on the older Winchester's head definitely took the cake, though. Usually, Sam would have found a way to free himself of the ropes he was bound with and got back to his brother to warn him in a reasonable time, but Gary's body was by no means made for the kind of escape attempts Sam would normally use. There was little strength in the teenager's muscles and the younger Winchester simply wasn't used enough to the body he was trapped in to do anything out of the ordinary or remotely escape-artist like with it.

The more time Sam spent with Trevor and Nora in the basement, the clearer it became that the teenagers didn't really know what kind of powers they were messing with, but that didn't make anything they were doing any better. In fact, it made the situation all the more dangerous. The younger Winchester had tried reasoning with the teenagers and for a moment he had thought he made some progress with the girl at least, but then Trevor had gotten the spell book and prepared the ingredients for a summoning spell.

"Don't do this. I'm begging you!" Sam tried to convince the teenager to stop once again with growing desperation. The younger Winchester wasn't completely sure if a demon would recognize him in his altered state, but he ha learned long ago that chances always tended to be against him. It was that Winchester luck.

"You're gonna get us all killed!" Sam yelled when Trevor didn't stop chanting in Latin. Unfortunately, the teenager didn't even get distracted, just continued with the summoning ritual.

It hit Sam like a brick to the head that he hadn't felt this small and defenseless in a long time, not even when he had been eight years old and completely clueless. There was nothing he could do, being in the wrong body and definitely in the wrong place at the wrong time. Of course, back when the younger Winchester had been a little kid, Dean was there to protect him and more importantly, Gabriel had always made sure that they were safe. There was just something about the archangel that made Sam feel protected and cared for. The intensity with which he wished that Gabriel could just pop in to make everything right again, shocked Sam more than the fact he had been taken down by severely awkward and vastly mediocre teenagers.

"Ad ligandum eos pariter eos coram me!" Trevor finished the summoning, looking around for the demon only to see no obvious change, "Maybe I said it wrong."

Sam snorted, they should be so lucky! Of course, the teenager had said everything right as they soon realized when Nora's eyes suddenly turned solid black. The younger Winchester cursed inwardly. He knew that it was better not to draw any attention to him, though. Chances that the demon wouldn't notice and eventually recognize Sam were slim, but he didn't have to speed up the process. In the end, it took less than a minute until the demon focused its attention on the younger Winchester.

"So, if Sam's in this body, who's in Sam's?" the demon asked, making the younger Winchester cringe. Lucifer said more than once that he wanted Sam's full consent and that he knew that Sam was going to give it to him. The younger Winchester had started to believe in the devil's words over time, but he had to wonder, if somebody else being in Sam's body was a deal breaker. Maybe Sam should have been relieved that technically all that was Gary's problem now, but it was still his body they were talking about!

"A dangerous warlock. Named Gary," Trevor answered confidently, standing his ground even when the demon gave him a soul searching stare. If the teenager could look the bullies at his school in the eye without fear every day, he could do the same with a demon.

"Adding lying to your list of sins now, kid?" Gabriel asked suddenly, "What you meant to say was 'a very stupid teenager, named Gary' I'm sure."

Sam's head snapped toward the archangel so quick it made him feel dizzy. Not only was Gabriel standing there, Dean was flanking him, keeping a tight grip on Gary to keep the teenager from doing anything spectacularly stupid while he was in Sam's body. Or rather, to keep the teenager from adding even more to the pile of stupid he had already accumulated.

The demon hissed at the archangel just a moment before Nora's head snapped back as black smoke poured out of her mouth. To his minor credit, Trevor caught his friend's body, before she hit the floor.

Gabriel clicked his tongue and raised his hand, making a fist. The gesture was just for show, while his powers kept the demon from leaving the room with just a thought, but a good performance was always half the battle. "You're going nowhere, smokey."

The archangel had announced his presence and alliance to his bigger brothers by his actions already, letting a bunch of demons know that the Winchesters were under his protection was hardly a big step after that.

"Let's talk about somebody putting out a hit on Dean-o's head," Gabriel stated in a seemingly casual tone. However, the archangel's eyes flashed so dangerously, Dean didn't even roll his eyes at the nickname. Gary told them the entire story about how he and his friends had fooled around with an Ouija board and had heard about the bounty on Dean's head that way. It was a situation that had to be dealt with before it got out of hand for sure.

"The one reason your ass is going back to hell instead of just", the archangel made a poofing motion with his free hand, "is that I want you to spread the word that whoever wants to get to either one of those two, will have to go through me first."

After he finished speaking, Gabriel raised his fist a little further, before he made a motion like he was trying to throw something straight through the floor. In fact, Sam was a little surprised that there was no hole in the ground where the black smoke had disappeared.

Dean was quick to cut through the rope binding his brother to the chair, all the while glaring at Gary who did a good job of looking repentant and miserable. Sam could only guess what his brother and the archangel had threatened to do to the teenager, but he couldn't bring himself to feel too sorry for the kid that moment.

"You okay, Sammy?" Dean asked, throwing the ropes aside. To say, that looking at the teenager's body knowing that it was really Sam, was strange; was the understatement of the century. At least, Sam seemed to be unharmed.

"Yeah," the younger Winchester replied, taking a deep, steadying breath, "Thanks."

Dean wasn't going to change his opinion that they could have handled all this on their own anytime soon, but he could admit that having the archangel on their side had come in handy, in this case. Even though it had to be said that the older Winchester would have been suspicious of Gary much sooner, if he hadn't thought that Gabriel had done something to alter Sam's personality.

"And now you'll reverse this!" Dean demanded, glaring at Gary once more. The teenager shouldn't think that the archangel was the only one around who could be scary as hell, if you got on his wrong side! Besides, Gabriel hadn't said anything since he had sent the demon back to hell and was only watching Sam and Dean.

"Sure, no problem," Gary hurried to reply, already reaching for the spell book Trevor had left on the counter earlier, "Was gonna do that, anyway."

It obviously and understandably made the teenager nervous to work under the critical gaze of two hunters and an archangel – not that Gary knew what exactly Gabriel was – but he set up everything needed to reverse the spell very quickly nonetheless. His two friends did nothing to help, but Nora was still recovering from the demonic possession and Trevor had apparently decided that blending into the background was his best option.

Sam and Gary sat across from each other as the teenager chanted the counter spell and ignited the ingredients in the bowl between them. The moment the worst of the smoke was gone, the younger Winchester immediately looked at his hands and chest, exhaling soundly when he found them to be his own again. Granted, the fact that he was sitting across from Gary and was looking at the teenager's body that had been his for the day, had been a pretty good clue that everything had gone according to plan.

"Welcome back, Sambo," Gabriel stated, an honest smile grazing his lips for the first time since he had arrived in the freaking town, a rarity for the normally grinning archangel.

"That was really freaky," Sam huffed out a laugh. All in all, the incident wasn't among the top ten worst things that had ever happened to the younger Winchester, but it had been stressful. Especially after the teenagers had revealed that it was their plan to kill Dean! Sam was just glad that it was over.

"Okay, listen up kids," the older Winchester ordered in a serious tone, taking turns looking at all the teenagers, "You're all damn lucky that you're all not old enough to drink yet, 'cause if you were, we'd kill you for all this witchcraft shit! I'm warning you, because I got a tiny bit of hope that you're smart enough to leave this crap behind you and stay on the right path from now on, if you don't, we'll come back and you'll end up dead."

Gary, Nora and Trevor had the good sense to look chastised and remorseful. That moment, it seemed believable that they'd stay away from all things demonic and witchy in the future. That was good enough for the Winchesters, but apparently the archangel had different ideas.

"I'm afraid, I'm not as nice as Dean-o here," Gabriel commented, noticing with some satisfaction how the juvenile delinquents flinched. Handing out just desserts and teaching stupid humans a lesson was what the archangel had done for ages, he had something special in mind for those three. Gabriel raised his hand and snapped his fingers before either one of the Winchesters could say anything or stop him. "Just a little something to remind you all to be good."

The three teenagers looked each other up and down panicky, while the Winchesters looked at each other awkwardly. Of course, Gabriel had disappeared right after he had pulled his little stunt, so the brothers couldn't even tell him to take whatever punishment he had just given to the kids back. Then again, everyone was alive and nobody was in pain, so whatever it was probably wasn't that bad. There was a tiny sliver of hope that it wasn't really that bad, anyway.

The Winchesters were well on their way out of town soon afterward. There was no reason to stick around any longer and after everything that had happened, they were both glad to leave.

"I'm glad to be back," Sam sighed contently, making himself comfortable in the Impala. In a way, being forced to be someone else for a while had shown the younger Winchester how much he appreciated some things in his own life. Sure, they had problems of apocalyptic proportions – literally – but they also had each other. Not to mention their small, but good network of expanded family and friends.

"Yeah?" Dean grinned slightly, nudging his little brother with his elbow just as they left the town for good.

"Yeah," Sam confirmed, giving his brother a smile, "I kinda forgot how much it sucks to be a teenager."

Of course, their teenage years had been completely different to Gary's, but some things were eerily similar. Sure, their father had never tried to force Sam into an academic career he didn't want – actually, Sam might have been happy if John Winchester had wanted his son to study at all costs – but being pressured into something you didn't want to do with your life sucked, regardless of what path your father had in mind for you.

Dean laughed, before a thought he just had to voice hit him. "Hey Sammy, if somebody turns you into a baby before New Year's you'll have gone through all stages of your life again this year."

His younger brother had already been a kid and a teenager that year, adding a couple days as a baby to the mix would mean that Sam had gone through most of the major stages he had already gone through in his life once again. Dean was all too happy to ignore that he himself had been a pre-teen and an old man that year alone, though.

"Ha ha," the younger Winchester huffed, not gracing his brother's stupid joke with a real answer.

"What do you say, we get back to Bobby's for Christmas?" Dean asked a couple of minutes later. They were already driving in the general direction of South Dakota, but the older Winchester realized that he had never gotten around to telling Sam that he had changed his mind about the entire Christmas business.

"Really, Dean?" the younger Winchester replied in a tone that did nothing to mask how much he wanted to believe that his brother had just made a genuine offer. Last thing Sam knew, Dean really didn't want to follow Gabriel's invitation. Then again, the younger Winchester hadn't been around for over a day.

"So? I changed my mind about that," Dean shrugged, throwing a side glance at his brother, "Might be nice and we can introduce Cas to eggnog."

The thought of getting Castiel to partake in some Christmas traditions made Sam smile. "Sounds good."

"Awesome," Dean grinned, turning up his music as they continued to drive. They'd have to stop for the night soon and maybe once more before they got to Bobby's, if they wanted to get just some basic Christmas shopping in, but they'd easily make it before Christmas Eve.

Later that night, Dean was taking a shower when Sam decided to follow a sudden impulse and grabbed his cell phone to type a message to Gabriel. "What did you do to those kids?"

The younger Winchester didn't have to wait too long for the answer. "Nothing."

"Nothing?" Sam typed his reply, because that was pretty damn hard to believe knowing the trickster and Gabriel might as well know, that he didn't take his every word at face value.

Reading the message the archangel sent next made the younger Winchester laugh out loud despite himself. It was cruel in a way, but nowhere near any of the unpleasant things Sam had feared Gabriel might have bestowed upon the teenagers. "Nothing, but it'll be a while before they figure that out."


	10. Chapter 9

**Author's note: **Thanks so much to Larkafree, Maknatuna, Maddy Love Castiel, FireChildSlytherin5, RachelPhobia, CherylB1964, Nicolene B, eiahlaie, XxZessxX, kb18142, Nyx Ro, Sorry-I-Wasn't-Listening, Kirabaros, PercyJfan1802, Fallen's child, BritishSweden, random yet loveable, baileylovesyou0400, Dannichigo, Chichi-10018 and one guest for last chapter's reviews!

Special thanks to Treeni for beta-reading!

* * *

**9**

In the end, the drive back to Bobby's took the Winchesters nearly two days instead of the one day it should have taken. Sam was far from complaining, though. First of all, they still made it back to South Dakota on December 23rd and then there was the reason for their delay. Without losing a word about it, Dean had decided that they had to make a pit stop at a mall. At first, the younger Winchester had been sure that they only were there for lunch at some fast food joint, but then his brother had hinted toward getting a new trucker hat for Bobby while they were there already.

It had been a couple of hours before Sam and Dean left the mall again. They hadn't bought much, but the older Winchester had tried a lot of things before he had settled for a present for Castiel and his younger brother had had similar troubles choosing something for Gabriel. Not to mention that this close to Christmas there were way too many people out shopping. All in all, their little trip to the mall had been successful and nice, even though it forced them to stop for the night once more before they could reach their destination.

When they had finally arrived in Sioux Falls they had taken some time to explain everything that had happened in the past days – minus their little shopping spree – to Bobby. The older hunter wasn't sure if it would ever be useful, but he wrote down everything the brothers told him about the soul swapping ritual just in case.

Gabriel joined them on the 24th, visibly pleased that Bobby had made sure that there was a decent sized Christmas tree. The archangel was determined to give Sam the nice family holiday the child in him was obviously hoping for no matter what the others thought about it, but the oldest hunter's cooperation sure helped. As a sign of goodwill, Gabriel left the decorating to the hunters. A little later, the archangel took his chance when Castiel appeared, to get away from the group and disappear into the dining room of the house.

"I'll be damned," Bobby muttered, when he caught the first glimpse of his dining table. Sure, the archangel had said that he was going to prepare their Christmas dinner and Bobby had fully expected Gabriel to go overboard with whatever it was he had planned, but this was ridiculous, even considering the angel's second identity as a trickster and it was only Christmas-eve.

"I said I'd take care of the food and drinks," Gabriel shrugged casually, but his eyes sparkled with glee. The stunned expressions all the hunters had was exactly what the archangel had wanted to achieve when he had made all the foods he thought the humans would appreciate appear on Bobby's dinner table.

"How many people did you invite?" Dean asked sarcastically. The moment the older Winchester finished his question though, he began to wonder if the archangel really had invited other people or beings to their Christmas celebration. Dean wouldn't have put it past Gabriel to do exactly that. Apparently, Bobby was following the same train of thought, because the older hunter looked suspicious of the possibility as well.

"Who do you think I would invite?" Gabriel replied with a raised eyebrow, "I'm pretty sure that most of my friends want my head on a plate now that I've come out as an archangel."

To be fair, a couple of Loki's so called friends might have stabbed him in the back the first chance they got even before he had revealed his true identity. Not that he had ever gone back to Asgard to let the other Norse gods know what was going on, but lately Gabriel had caused ripples in the pond that were too big for anyone to ignore. A part of the archangel was sorry to let that part of his life go, but he was on a mission and that mission was more important to him than anything else.

"I'd rather not tempt fate more than necessary," Gabriel added, using an upbeat tone despite the topic he was speaking about to make the transition back to the holiday spirited conversation, "Not that they'd be able to kill me, but I'm not that hard to hurt."

Sam frowned slightly, but he understood that the archangel didn't want to discuss the topic further, at least not that moment and with everyone around. Maybe there would be a good time later to ask Gabriel about the surrogate family he had left, by deciding to side with them.

"That so?" Dean asked with a slight smirk, before he could stop himself. The snide question had been uncalled for and the older Winchester realized it, but there was no taking it back now that he had said it.

"Dean," Sam hissed, nudging his older brother with his elbow none too gently for his stupid joke. Furthermore, the younger Winchester didn't know how to feel knowing that they had hurt Gabriel before. Granted, the archangel had done all sorts of things to them too, but he obviously wanted to make it up to them now, so Sam thought feeling a little bad about the staking wasn't out of place.

"Okay, okay, Christmas spirit," Dean replied with an apologetic shrug. The older Winchester directed his attention back to the dinner table and rubbed his hands together in anticipation. "C'mon Cas, let's find out what you like."

"I don't require…" Castiel began to protest, but he never got to finish his statement before the older Winchester took a firm hold of his shoulder and dragged him to the dinner table. It wasn't that the food didn't look good to the angel -the smell alone had Jimmy's mouth salivating- he simply didn't see the point in spending time and energy eating when he didn't have to.

"This is not about requiring anything, it's about stuff being tasty," Dean explained, nodding satisfied when the blue-eyed angel took a seat next to him. The older Winchester knew that Castiel wasn't completely opposed to eating and this was the perfect opportunity to test what kind of food made the angel's heart beat faster.

"Remind me never to let you decorate," Bobby scratched the side of his head as he took his place at the table, "You'd probably make the house visible from space."

Of course, it made sense that a pagan god and archangel would enjoy opulence and Bobby could imagine worse than having the equivalent of a five star dinner for a group of at least twelve on his table, but the thought of what Gabriel might think were appropriate decorations for the house as a whole made the oldest hunter shudder. Though, the mental picture of every single car in the scrap yard along with the house being covered in fairy lights was mildly amusing as long as it stayed hypothetical.

"I'll let you know that I have excellent taste when it comes to interior and exterior design, old man," Gabriel stated in a lecturing tone, though the small mischievous smirk on his face spoke of a different intent than his words had. The archangel happily noticed that Sam had chosen to sit next to him. Granted, the younger Winchester only had the choice to sit between Dean and Gabriel or Bobby and Castiel, but he had still chosen the first.

"There's an empty chair with your name on it, boy," the oldest hunter finally addressed Tarot, who was standing by the door awkwardly. The angel flinched slightly, which had to be expected with him, but approached them just a few moments later to sit next to Bobby and Castiel.

Tarot relaxed gradually when everyone carried on as before, not paying much attention to him or the fact that he was just sitting there with his hands on his thighs. It wasn't that he didn't like the people he was with, it wasn't even that he didn't trust them, but people made him uncomfortable no matter who they were. The new ones Tarot met every now and then when somebody visited Bobby were obviously the worst, but the angel simply couldn't shake the uncomfortable feeling even around those he saw regularly and especially around his own brothers.

"A toast," Dean suddenly announced, causing most of the people around to stare at him in varying degrees of disbelief, "To Sammy, Bobby and Cas, if you gotta be in deep shit, it's better to be in with you guys than anybody else. To Tarot… uh… good coffee, dude. And to Gabriel, I hope there's pie later."

Despite himself, Sam had to laugh at that.

* * *

As a matter of fact, there was pie after dinner, though Sam wasn't sure how Dean managed to eat any of it after stuffing his face like he had at the main course.

Tarot had retreated into the corner of the living room where he kept his clock parts after he had made sure that everyone had fresh coffee. Sam wished that the sandy-haired seraph would have appreciated his company while he, Bobby and Castiel were waiting for Dean and Gabriel to finish their argument over the better Christmas movie. Of the two, helping repair clocks seemed like the more enjoyable option. The older Winchester insisted that they should watch 'Die Hard' while Gabriel preferred 'Home Alone'. Castiel had no opinion on the topic for obvious reasons and both Bobby and Sam refused to side with anybody in the matter.

In the end, the oldest hunter was the one who grabbed the remote control and turned the TV on, determined to find a suitable third option. To his credit, Gabriel did nothing to make sure that all channels only showed 'Home Alone'. The thought had crossed the archangel's mind, but while he enjoyed having that little argument with Dean, he didn't want to turn it into anything more than a harmless squabble.

"There," Bobby stated, keeping a tight grip on the remote control, just in case, "Now sit down and shut up you two!"

Sam would have preferred 'Die Hard' over 'Batman Returns' any day, but the younger Winchester knew better than to comment on that when both Dean and Gabriel seemed happy enough with the choice Bobby had made. It wasn't a half bad movie, anyway.

"Idjits," the oldest hunter muttered under his breath when the older Winchester threw one more glare toward the archangel. Gabriel had chosen to sit on the armrest of the couch next to Sam to Dean's great annoyance. At least, the glaring stopped as soon as the movie was in full swing.

The younger Winchester couldn't say that he minded being that close to the archangel. In a way, it was even comforting. Sam vaguely remembered calling Gabriel 'larger than life' when he had been drugged, but he had to admit that's exactly what the archangel was to him. Despite his vessel's size, the archangel's presence was nearly overwhelming at times, especially when he really got emotional over something. It was a pretty good feeling to know that making sure Sam and Dean were protected was one of the things Gabriel got emotional over. It had done all sorts of funny things to the younger Winchester's insides when the archangel had proclaimed to that demon and the teenage witches that everyone wanting to get to them had to go through him first. If Dean ever found out there would be hell to pay, Sam was sure.

However, Gabriel didn't need to use big gestures like that to make the younger Winchester feel better than he had in quite some time. The shorter man only being there, close to Sam, made him feel safe already.

The younger Winchester had to say he also really appreciated the comments Gabriel kept whispering to him throughout the movie. Before the end credits rolled, Sam had learned that the archangel found Christopher Walken to be creepy, liked seeing Danny DeVito in movies for the man's acting abilities - but also because he was nearly a head shorter than Gabriel's vessel - loved penguins and had the highest respect for the pains Michelle Pfeiffer went through with her Catwoman costume.

Castiel, on the other hand, seemed confused by the movie more than anything else. The more often Dean told the seraph to just go with it, the deeper Castiel's frown got.

"I seem to lack the socio-cultural background to appreciate this movie," the blue-eyed angel concluded. The others obviously knew more about the characters than was shown in the movie, a knowledge Castiel lacked.

"Wait, are you saying you didn't like it?" Dean asked incredulously, looking at his friend like the angel had just told him something outrageous.

"I am saying I did not understand it well enough to like or dislike it," Castiel clarified, hoping that he had given a satisfactory answer to the older Winchester's question. The angel did not completely understand the significance of them celebrating Christmas either, but he knew that it was important to everyone around in their own way and he didn't want to disturb the festivities.

"Okay, Cas, that's unacceptable," Dean stated with a groan, "We need to watch that again."

Hell, Sammy didn't like half the movies that his older brother did and that was okay, so Castiel disliking the movie would have been one thing, but not having an opinion at all was something else entirely. The older Winchester was going to make sure that Castiel made up his mind and if they had to wait for the rerun of the movie later that night or some time the next day, they would.

"Good luck with the cultural education, Dean-o," Gabriel laughed, snapping his fingers to produce a DVD of 'Batman Returns' out of thin air and passed it on to the older Winchester. If Dean wanted to actually spend more time with Castiel – which probably was the best Christmas present his little brother could get – Gabriel was going to support that.

Bobby shook his head slightly and got up to go to bed. The oldest hunter might have been the one to choose the movie, but that didn't mean that he wanted to see it twice in a row. Christmas was going to be a long day anyway, if the evening they had had was any indication.

Sam stayed for another couple of minutes, listening to the short history of Batman his older brother gave to Castiel while the seraph hung on his every word. The younger Winchester quickly began to feel like he was intruding and decided to get some shut-eye himself. It helped that Gabriel had scurried off somewhere earlier, so Sam didn't have to worry about the archangel purposely annoying Dean just because he could the moment he wasn't there to witness it anymore.

"Rule of cool, Cas, always keep that in mind," the older Winchester was explaining just before his brother left the room. What Sam didn't know was that Gabriel had been waiting for exactly that moment.


End file.
